NCJ Number
167227
Journal
Crime & Delinquency Volume: 43 Issue: 3 Dated: (July 1997) Pages: 260-278
Date Published
1997
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This examination of the cases of 35 women on death row in 1993 indicated both between-gender and within-gender differences between women and men.
Abstract
Of the 35 women, 15 were black or Hispanic and almost half had been sentenced to death for the murder of significant others. Differences were observed between women and men sentenced to death. Among women, differences were also noted in offender portrayals, the nature of capital crime, and aggravation levels. Unlike men sentenced to death, white women on death row were highly likely to have murdered loved ones, most often male husbands or lovers. The most aggravated cases involved white women who were portrayed as seductive or lustful and who were implicated in multiple killings of white victims. Murders committed by black or Hispanic women were more likely than murders committed by white women to be in less aggravated categories and to have been motivated by anger or revenge. Women who killed their loved ones were unlikely to have had long histories of criminal violence, but they had been frequent victims of abuse. Issues related to the battered woman syndrome as a mitigating factor in murder and to representations of "female evil" are considered. 47 references and 4 tables