James Fox
Professor Of Criminology, Law And Public Policy, Northeastern University
Key Findings
- Age-wise, males and females are most likely to commit homicide in their early 20s, but this peak is more prominent for males.
- Thirty-five percent of female killers are younger than 25 while almost half of male killers are younger than 25.
- Female offenders are more likely to continue committing homicide later into their lives than male offenders.
- Homicide victim age corresponds to offender age regardless of offender gender.
- Overall trends in offending and victimization are similar among males and females.
- Regardless of offender or victim gender, race more greatly impacts an individual’s connection homicide than age does.
- Blacks are overrepresented as both homicide victims and offenders.
- Race differences are more pronounced for males than for females involved in homicides.
- Female offenders are responsible for 40% of deaths involving poison, drugs, drowning and asphyxiation.
- Nearly one-third of male and and half of female offenders heavily rely on firearms as their weapon of choice.
- Two-thirds of infanticides are perpetrated by women.
- Eighty percent of homicides where the victim is under one year old are perpetrated by female killers.
- Female victims are twice as likely to be killed in multi-victim incidents.
- More than half of female offenders kill family members or intimate partners.
Description
In the article, “Gender Differences in Patterns and Trends in U.S. Homicide, 1976-2015,” Fox and his co-author examine female homicide offending and victimization, known as femicide, to understand patterns of behavior of this group. Historically, females involved in homicide have been given less attention than their male counterparts as they account for a lower percentage of homicides. To conduct their study, the researchers used data from the FBI’s Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR), which includes information on jurisdiction, victim-offender relationship, weapon type, and other details. The SHR is the most robust data set available but still includes gaps, which the research accounted for by making reasonable estimates for the missing data and weighing these guesses with similar data from the SHR. The results showed that age-wise, males and females are most likely to commit homicide in their early 20s, but this peak is more prominent for males. Thirty-five percent of female killers are younger than 25 while almost half of male killers are younger than 25. Female offenders are more likely to continue committing homicide later into their lives than male offenders. Homicide victim age corresponds to offender age regardless of offender gender. Overall trends in offending and victimization are similar among males and females. Regardless of offender or victim gender, race more greatly impacts an individual’s connection homicide than age does. Blacks are overrepresented as both homicide victims and offenders. Race differences are more pronounced for males than for females involved in homicides. Female offenders are responsible for 40% of deaths involving poison, drugs, drowning and asphyxiation. Nearly one-third of male and and half of female offenders heavily rely on firearms as their weapon of choice. Two-thirds of infanticides are perpetrated by women. Eighty percent of homicides where the victim is under one year old are perpetrated by female killers. Female victims are two times as likely to be killed in multi-victim incidents. More than half of female offenders kill family members or intimate partners. In conclusion, the authors note that more information on the specificity of homicides is needed to understand gender differences in homicide involvement and prevention.