NCJ Number
143256
Journal
St. John's Law Review Volume: 66 Issue: 4 Dated: (Fall-Winter 1993) Pages: 933-977
Date Published
1993
Length
45 pages
Annotation
Using the case of Aileen Carol Wuornos, the first accused female serial killer in the U.S., as a starting point, this article examines a women's right to self-defense and public perceptions of female violent offenders.
Abstract
The author maintains that female inmates, who are generally imprisoned for petty economic crimes and prostitution or drug-related offenses, are perceived as more violent than their more numerous and violent male counterparts. Women are held to higher and different standards than men, who are expected to be violent; people do not expect and will not tolerate women to be violent, even in self- defense. These psychological double standards lead to a double standard of punishment, reflected in studies which show that women are often punished more severely for "female" crimes, such as prostitution, than men are for more violent "male" crimes such as homicide. Females who kill spouses or strangers in self-defense are also judged more severely than men who commit similar crimes. After an examination of violence toward prostitutes and the psychopathology of women-hatred, this author concludes that Wuornos could feasibly have killed six men, out of thousands of male clients, for reasons of self- defense. The article also discusses the quality of legal support received by Wuornos, compared to that received by notorious male serial killers, and the possible double standard that exists in the judicial system for female murderers. 163 notes