Book review: Kate Fitz-Gibbon and Sandra Walklate (eds), Homicide, Gender and Responsibility: An International Perspective
| Author | Jenny Korkodeilou |
| DOI | 10.1177/1748895817752046 |
| Published date | 01 September 2018 |
| Date | 01 September 2018 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895817752046
Criminology & Criminal Justice
2018, Vol. 18(4) 508 –512
© The Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/1748895817752046
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Book reviews
Kate Fitz-Gibbon and Sandra Walklate (eds), Homicide, Gender and Responsibility: An International
Perspective, Routledge: Abingdon, Oxon, 2016; 184 pp.: 9781138843479, £90 (hbk)
Reviewed by: Jenny Korkodeilou, The University of Salford, UK
Homicide, Gender and Responsibility offers an eloquent, nuanced and sophisticated col-
lection of essays problematizing the multi-layered interplay and connectedness between
gender, law and responsibility in relation to homicide in various fields (private/public)
and within local and global contexts (UK/Australia/Canada/Ireland). The book takes a
critical look at, and examines, one of the most common forms of lethal violence, homi-
cide, and its different constructions through the conceptual lens of gender and key notions
of responsibility.
In their introductory chapter the editors explain the scope, rationale and structure of the
book. As they argue, by taking Cockburn’s (2004) and Kelly’s (1988) work on ‘continuum
of sexual violence’ as a starting point, they aim at understanding homicide as a form of
violence occurring along a continuum of violence and shedding light on ‘how gendered
understandings and experiences of violence permeate representations of responsibility’ (p.
3). The book consists of two parts, each comprising four chapters and a final chapter sum-
marizing key points and editors’ thoughts on the collection’s contribution.
Part I explores the gendered functions and response of law to domestic homicide show-
ing that ‘legal narratives cannot capture complexities, nuances, ambiguities in women’s
lives’ (p. 6) and this is, as the editors state, the reason legal reform is not always helpful and
effective. In Chapter 1 Annette Ballinger revisits the case of Ruth Ellis and the gendered
assumptions that underlined her treatment in the criminal justice system. The author
explains that in essence Ruth Ellis was denied the defence of provocation because she took
full responsibility for her actions and thus did not conform to stereotypical (patriarchal)
beliefs and assumptions about femininity, passivity and vulnerability. It is argued that for
legal change to be effective law needs to be re-gendered and this would involve challeng-
ing the masculine concepts of rationality and responsibility and creating new legal subject
positions that accommodate women’s complex realities and experiences. In the same line
in Chapter 2 Julie Stubbs closely examines intimate partner homicide, its characteristics
and underlying gendered patterns. She stresses that gender remains a critical explanatory
factor but that we need an intersectional theoretical framework covering different aspects
such as race, class, sexuality and disability in order to provide a fuller and more nuanced
752046CRJ0010.1177/1748895817752046Criminology & Criminal JusticeBook reviews
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