Citation

Fox JM, Brook M, Heilbronner RL, Susmaras T, Hanlon RE. J. Forensic Sci. 2019; 64(2): 460-467.

Affiliation

Neuropsychological Associates of Chicago, 645 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 803, Chicago, IL, 60611.

Copyright

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

DOI

10.1111/1556-4029.13911

PMID

30231300

Abstract

Few studies have examined life history and cognitive characteristics unique to female homicide offenders. Understanding these characteristics could aid in risk assessment for extreme violence in this group of offenders. The current study utilized t-tests or chi-square tests to compare 27 female and 81 male homicide offenders on psychiatric, neurologic, criminal, and cognitive characteristics. Additionally, we explored the role of abuse history in female offenders through Kruskal-Wallis or Fisher's exact tests.

RESULTS indicate that in comparison with male counterparts, females are more likely to have history of mood disorder, borderline personality disorder, and abuse. Cognitively, female homicide offenders exhibit circumscribed cognitive impairment in verbal abilities and perform similarly to male homicide offenders across most cognitive tasks. Within the female offender group, history of sexual abuse is associated with higher rates of impulsive homicide and poorer verbal abilities. These findings provide preliminary evidence for distinct factors associated with homicide in women.

© 2018 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Language: en

Keywords

abuse; cognitive testing; female; forensic neuropsychology; forensic science; homicide; premeditation