A gender geography of intentional homicide within and outside of the family: Male and female murders in Europe, the US and Canada (2003–15)

AuthorA. Minello,G. Dalla-Zuanna
Published date01 November 2021
Date01 November 2021
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/1477370819884251
Subject MatterArticles
https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370819884251
European Journal of Criminology
© The Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/1477370819884251
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A gender geography of
intentional homicide within
and outside of the family: Male
and female murders in Europe,
the US and Canada (2003–15)
A. Minello
University of Florence, Italy
G. Dalla-Zuanna
University of Padua, Italy
Abstract
Using the most recent and unpublished international data provided by the United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime, we discuss the geography of male and female homicides in Europe, the US
and Canada during the period 2003–15.
We observe declining trends in mortality for both male and female homicide in most of
these countries. For within-family homicides, geographical differences are much less pronounced
compared with those occurring outside the family, especially if the victim is a woman and the
perpetrator is the partner or former partner. Only for men is the risk of being the victim of
a homicide committed by a family member greater where the risk of being killed by someone
outside the family is also higher.
Keywords
Family homicide, gender, homicide, international, intimate partner homicide
Introduction
The study of intentional homicide is essential for two reasons: first, owing to the gravity
of the offence, and, second, because it is one of the most measurable and comparable
indicators for monitoring violent deaths. Moreover, it is often considered both a proxy
Corresponding author:
884251EUC0010.1177/1477370819884251European Journal of CriminologyMinello and Dalla-Zuanna
research-article2019
Article
2021, Vol. 18(6) 875–898
Alessandra Minello, Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Padua, Via Cesare Battisti, 241, 35121
Padova PD, Italy.
Email: alessandra.minello@unipd.it
for violent crime as well as an indicator of levels of security within countries (UNODC,
2015). The specific study of intentional intimate partner homicide and murder within the
family is equally imperative. Family should represent the ultimate safe space. It is,
instead, the place where most of the female victims meet their death.
Although intimate partner homicide, within-family homicides and, more generally,
the subject of the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator is of extraordinary
importance, in the past it was difficult for researchers to find comparable international
data. Even now, information is still not always easily traceable or is simply not available
for some countries. In fact, data mainly come from the police or mortuaries and, although
information about perpetrators is extremely important in defining the phenomenon, it is
often not collected (Stöckl et al., 2013).
A number of studies, mainly using administrative data that include information on the
victim–perpetrator relationship, focus on homicides committed by intimate partners (see,
for example, Block and Christakos, 1995; Browne et al., 1999; Caman et al., 2017;
Dugan et al., 1999; Jennings and Piquero, 2008; Reckdenwald and Parker, 2011).
Research on the trends of intimate partner homicide reveals a decrease in the US and
Western Europe over the past century, although the decline is modest compared with
other kinds of homicide (Corradi and Stöckl, 2014; Fox and Zawitz, 2007; Greenfield
et al., 1998; UNODC, 2013).
Stöckl et al. (2013) provide one of the most comprehensive analyses available, exam-
ining data on intimate partner homicide separately for women and men. They confirm
what is clear in the previous literature: the majority of murder victims are men but, when
it comes to homicides committed by intimate partners, the causalities are mostly women:
38 percent of female homicides are committed by partners or former partners, whereas
this figure for men is much lower (6 percent).
In the literature in general, distinctions according to the gender of the victim are com-
mon. Every year, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) prepares a
report taking stock of the spread of intentional and unintentional homicide around the
world, taking care to distinguish by gender. Some mechanisms are clear and affirmed.
Among these, intentional murder is a phenomenon that clearly affects mainly men, who
globally account for 80 percent of the victims. However, in some contexts, such as in
Europe, women make up almost one-third of victims. Age differences between victims
according to gender are another crucial point. Male victims are, on average, younger than
female victims. Finally, and importantly for our research, there is a strong gender com-
ponent in the relationship between victim and perpetrator. The most recent data show
that 60 percent of the victims of homicides committed within the family or by partners
are women. If we look exclusively at the victims of homicide by partners and former
partners, this percentage rises to 78, with no major territorial differences or great varia-
tions over time (UNODC, 2016).
Recent years have seen advances in the collection of data on homicides and in particu-
lar in the identification of the relationship between victim and perpetrator. Above all,
there is an increasing focus on the need to collect better data in order to outline policies
that reduce the incidence of homicide, especially that of women (Vives-Cases et al.,
2016). In the European context, the Convention of Istanbul, signed by the countries of
the Council of Europe in June 2011, with the aim of preventing and combating violence
876 European Journal of Criminology 18(6)

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