Citation

Skott S, Beauregard E, Darjee R. J. Forensic Sci. 2019; 64(1): 154-162.

Affiliation

Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Terrace, Edinburgh, EH10 5HF, UK.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1556-4029.13807

PMID

29684938

Abstract

Research on female sexual homicide has been very scarce. In Europe, it has rarely been examined, and in Scotland, it has never previously been studied. This exploratory study aims to examine the characteristics of sexual homicides involving female offenders between 1990 and 2015 in Scotland. Using data from the Scottish Homicide Database between 1990 and 2015, female sexual homicides (n = 7) were compared to nonsexual homicides committed by females (n = 106) and to sexual homicides committed by men (n = 89) using Fisher's exact tests. The findings show that although female sexual homicide offenders are similar to both female nonsexual homicide offenders and male sexual homicide offenders in certain aspects, there are important differences that distinguish sexual homicides involving female offenders from both groups. Female sexual homicide offenders can arguably be seen as a distinct group of offenders, with specific characteristics and specific needs.

© 2018 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Language: en

Keywords

criminology; female offending; forensic science; homicide; sexual homicide; sexual offending