UNDERSTANDING CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR

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UNDERSTANDING CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR

• WOMEN WHO KILL

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A NUMBER OF MYTHS

• FEMALES DO NOT / CANNOT COMMIT VIOLENT CRIME, OR
  MURDER.
• THEY ARE NOT SERIAL KILLERS
• WHY?
• NOT IN THEIR NATURE!
• SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED IDEAS AROUND GENDER

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THE TRUTH

• WOMEN CAN AND DO COMMIT HEINOUS CRIMES
• FEMALE CRIME IS RISING (SEE STATS FROM LECTURE 1)
• WOMEN CAN AND DO COMMIT MURDER
• THEY MAKE SUCCESSFUL SERIAL KILLERS
• KELLEHER(1998) IDENTIFIED APPROX. 100 FEMALE
  SERIAL KILLERS SINCE 1900
• THIS FIGURE IS PROBABLY CONSERVATIVE DUE TO THE
  DARK FIGURE.

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MYTHS

• WHEN WOMEN DO KILL THEY ARE AT THE MERCY OF THEIR
  EMOTIONS OR MENTALLY ILL.
• OFTEN KILL ON IMPULSE TO PLEASE A DOMINANT LOVER.
• WOMEN ARE NATURALLY NOT VIOLENT THEREFORE THEY
  ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE ACCOMPLICES

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TRUTH

• FEMALE KILLERS HAVE AGENCY THEY HAVE FREE WILL
• MOST ARE PRONOUNCED SANE AT THE TIME OF THEIR
  ARREST
• FEMALE KILLERS (ESP SERIAL KILLERS ) ARE
  CALCULATING , STRONG AND VERY CAPABLE.

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WHERE DO MYTHS COME FROM?

• THE NATURALISTIC VIEW OF FEMALE BEHAVIOUR
• LACK OF RESEARCH DUE TO THE FOCUS ON MALES
• A REFUSAL BY SOCIETY TO VIEW WOMEN IN THIS WAY
• ROMATICIZED VIEW OF WOMEN MEANS POLICE AND
  PUBLIC IGNORE SIGNS

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WHY DO WOMEN KILL?

• Davis (2002) proposes the following traits in
  women who kill
• Promiscuity
• Lied compulsively/lack of empathy
• Not raised in loving or stable homes
• However, there are many people who have similar
  childhoods but do not go onto kill. Athens (1992)
  they have been violentised . Several stages
• Brutalisation
• Belligerency
• Violent performances

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BATTERED WOMAN SYNDROME

• WESTERN PUBLIC / PRIVATE DICHOTOMY
• DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ONE OF MOST COMMON (IF NOT THE
  MOST COMMON) VIOLENT CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN
• SUSTAINED ABUSE OVER A LONG PERIOD OF TIME
• IS A FORM OF POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER
• USED AS DIMINISHED RESPONSIBILITY AND SELF
  DEFENCE IN COURTS

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DEFINITION

• A BATTERED WOMEN IS A WOMEN WHO HAS BEEN
  PHYSICALLY, SEXUALLY, OR SERIOUSLY PSYCHOGICALLY
  ABUSED BY A MAN IN AN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP,
  WITHOUT HIS REGARD FOR HER RIGHTS, IN ORDER TO
  COERCE HER INTO DOING WHAT HE WANTS HER TO DO AT
  LEAST TWO TIMES, OFTEN IN A SPECIFIC CYCLE
  (WALKER 199035)
• CASE STUDY PAMELA SAINSBURY

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INFANTICIDE

• CAN ONLY BE COMMITTED BY A WOMAN
• A CRIME THAT QUESTIONS FEMALE MORALITY AND
  MATERNAL INSTINCT
• HISTORICALLY COMES IN MANY GUISES- RELIGIOUS AND
  SUPERNATURAL SACRIFICE, SOLUTION FOR MOTHERS IN
  POVERTY, AND SOLUTION TO OVERPOPULATION.
• ROSE (1986) BETWEEN 1863-87 CHILDREN UNDER 1
  ACCOUNTED FOR 61 OF ALL HOMICIDE VICTIMS IN
  ENGLAND AND WALES
• HOMICIDE IS STILL ONE OF THE LEADING CAUSES OF
  DEATH IN CHILDREN UNDER AGE 4
• YET WE CONTINUE TO PERSIST WITH THE UNREALISTIC
  VEIW THAT THIS IS RARE BEHAVIOUR (J KORBIN 2006)
  

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• 1922 INFANTICIDE ACT THE ACT OF A MOTHER WHO
  KILLS HER NEW BORN CHILD
• REVISED IN 1938-AT THE TIME OF THE ACT OR
  OMISSION THE BALANCE OF HER MIND WAS DISTURBED BY
  REASON OF HER NOT HAVING FULLY RECOVERED FROM
  THE EFFECT OF GIVING BIRTH TO THE CHILD BY REASON
  OF THE EFFECT OF LACTATION CONSEQUENT UPON THE
  BIRTH OF THE CHILD

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CONTEMPORARY

• STILL VERY COMMON TODAY
• SEX RELATED INFANTICIDE (CHINA AND INDIA)
• THE CASES OF SALLY CLARK (1999) AND ANGELA
  CANNINGS (2002) ACCUSED OF INFANTICIDE
• CONVICTED WITH THE HELP OF PROF ROY MEADOWS
• EVENTUALLY BOTH CONVICTIONS QUASHED

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WOMEN WHO KILL THEIR CHILDREN

• Patricia Blackmon was 29 years old when she
  killed her two-year-old adopted daughter in
  Dothan, in May 1999
• Debra Jean Milke was 25 when she killed her
  four-year-old son in Arizona in 1989.
• Dora Luz Durenrostro killed her two daughters,
  age four and nine, and her son, age 8, when she
  was 34 years old in San Jacinto, California in
  1994.
• Caro Socorro was 42 years old when she killed her
  three sons, age five, eight and 11, in Santa Rosa
  Valley, California in 1999.
• Susan Eubanks murdered her four sons, ages four,
  six, seven, and 14, in San Marcos, California, in
  1996 when she was 33.

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• Caroline Young was 49 in Haywood, California when
  she killed her four-year-old granddaughter
  six-year-old grandson.
• Robin Row was 35 when she killed her husband, her
  10-year-old son and her 8-year-old daughter in
  Boise, Idaho in 1992.
• Michelle Sue Tharp was 29 years old in
  Burgettstown, Pennsylvania when she killed her
  seven-year-old daughter.
• Franic Elaine Newton was 21 when she murdered her
  husband, 7-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter
  in Houston, Texas.
• Darlie Lynn Routier was 26 in Rowlett, Texas when
  she killed her five-year-old son.
• Teresa Michelle Lewis killer her 51-year-old
  husband 26-year-old step son in Keeling,
  Virgina when she was 33.

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• THEREFORE MEDICALIZING CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR
• THEREFORE RELATING WOMENS CRIME TO BIOLOGY, AND
  PSYCHOLOGY
• RAISES THE QUESTION OF LENIENCY

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FEMALE SERIAL KILLERS

• ACCORDING TO KELLEHER (1998)
• THE ACT OF KILLING THREE OR MORE INDIVIDUALS IN
  A PERIOD OF THIRTY DAYS OR MORE
• ALSO
• THE MURDER OF AT LEAST 3 INDIVIDUALS IN WHICH
  EACH LETHAL ACT WAS SEPARATED FROM THE NEXT BY A
  DISCRETE COOLING OFF PERIOD.

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FEMALE SERIAL KILLERS

• KELLEHER AND KELLEHERS TYPOLOGY-
• BLACK WIDOW
• ANGEL OF DEATH
• SEXUAL PREDATOR
• REVENGE
• PROFIT
• TEAM KILLER
• QUESTION OF SANITY
• UNEXPLAINED
• UNSOLVED

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METHODS AND MOTIVES

• HICKEY (2002) SUBSAMPLE OF 62 FEMALE SERIAL
  KILLERS
• METHODS
• POISON (80)
• SHOOTING (20)
• BLUDGEONING (16)
• SUFFOCATION (16)
• STABBING (11)
• DROWNING (5)

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• MOTIVES
• MONEY (74)
• CONTROL (13)
• ENJOYMENT(11)
• SEX(10)
• DRUGS, CULT INVOLVEMENT, COVER-UP OR FEELINGS OF
  INADEQUACY (24)

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BLACK WIDOW

• HIGHLY ORGANISED
• MURDERS FAMILY MEMBERS OR THOSE SHE HAS CLOSE
  RELATIONSHIP WITH.
• SHE KILLS FOR PROFIT
• VICTIMS AGE AND SEX ARE UNIMPORTANT

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ANGEL OF DEATH

• CARERS!
• LIVE/WORK IN AREAS WHERE THE VULNERABLE NEED TO
  BE CARED FOR EG HOSPITALS
• THEY MAY GO UNNOTICED/ UNSUSPECTED.
• OFTEN DIAGNOSED WITH MUNCHAUSEN SYNDROME.

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SEXUAL PREDATOR

• SEXUAL PLEASURE BEING THE MOTIVATION FOR ATTACK
• RARELY COMMITTED BY A WOMAN
• ALTHOUGH MANY FEMALES UNDRESS AND MOLEST THEIR
  VICTIMS THE SEX IS SECONDARY- IT IS THE POWER
  THAT IS THE MOTIVATION

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REVENGE SERIAL KILLERS

• DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND- WHY ENGAGE IN A SERIES
  OF MURDERS TO GET REVENGE?
• MOTIVATED BY HATRED THEREFORE A CRIME OF PASSION?
• HOLD VICTIMS INDIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE- A SYMBOLIC
  ACT OF RETRIBUTION.
• OFTEN KILLS HER OWN CHILDREN AS REVENGE ON
  SPOUSE.
• POISON AND SUFFOCATION

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KILLING FOR PROFIT

• THEY CLEARLY KILL FOR PROFIT
• TARGETS ARE VICTIMS OUTSIDE THE FAMILY
• A WOMAN WHO SYTEMATICALLY MURDERS INDIVIDUALS
  IN THE COURSE OF OTHER CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES FOR
  PROFIT BUT IS NOT A MEMBER OF A TEAM (Kelleher
  93)
• THEY ARE HIGHLY ORGANISED AND ARE OFTEN KILLING
  FOR OTHERS

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TEAM SERIAL KILLERS

• 2/3 FEMALE SERIAL KILLERS MURDER WITHIN A TEAM
• TEAMS MAY BE -
• FEMALE MALE (MOST COMMON AND TEND TO BE LOVERS
  IN WHICH THE MALE IS MOST OFTEN DOMINANT)
• FEMALE- FEMALE (USUALLY FOR PROFIT AND THEY TEND
  TO BE OLDER AND PARTNERSHIP LASTS LONGER THAN
  MALE-FEMALE)

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• FAMILY 3 OR MORE PEOPLE BUT DONT HAVE TO BE
  FAMILY MEMBERS
• TYPICALLY LIVE IN THE SAME HOUSE AND THE MALE IS
  DOMINANT
• MURDERS ARE VIOLENT AND SEXUAL IN NATURE
• ACTIVE PERIOD SHORT AS RSHIPS BREAKDOWN

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• INSANITY- DIFFICULT TO PROVE ESP FOR SERIAL
  KILLERS AS THEY NEED A CLEAR MIND TO EXECUTE SO
  MANY MURDERS
• EXCEPTION IS ANGEL OF DEATH
• ALSO EPISODIC INSANITY EG PND

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• UNEXPLAINED
• MOTIVE IS INEXPLICABLE- BUT NO QUESTION OF THE
  KILLERS SANITY
• UNSOLVED
• RELATES TO CRIMES WHICH ARE WIDELY BELIEVED TO
  HAVE BEEN COMMITTED BY A WOMAN
• EITHER THE KILLER STOPS, IS DEAD OR HAS BEEN
  IMPRISONED FOR OTHER FELONIES
• MAYBE IT IS EASIER FOR WOMEN TO GET AWAY WITH
  MURDER IN OUR SOCIETY.

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CONCLUSION

• LACK OF RESEARCH DUE TO SOCIAL BIAS
• NO RELIABLE PROFILE OR SOCIOLOGICAL/PSYCHOLOGICAL
  EXPLANATION
• AS -
• FEMALE SERIAL KILLER IS COMPLEX, DIVERSE OFFENDER
  WHO MURDERS FOR VARIOUS REASONS AND IN DIFFERENT
  WAYS