Understanding the Nature and Context of Domestic Homicide Committed by Female Victims of Domestic Violence in Iran: Examining Current and Alternative Criminal Justice Responses

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Mahbube Amini
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Death Penalty ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Marital Relationship ◽  
Penal Code ◽  
Physical Assault ◽  
Domestic Homicide ◽  
Female Victims ◽  
Self Defense ◽  
Assault And Battery

AbstractDomestic homicide is the most serious type of violence in a marital relationship, which is punishable by the death penalty as retaliation (Qisas) according to the Penal Code of Iran. The present paper analyzes why a woman commits this crime (the killing of her husband), examining the killer’s status in a marital relationship. Data show that the killers had been victims of domestic violence for 10–25 years. In other words, domestic homicide has a direct relationship with the killer being victimized by domestic violence, including physical (assault and battery), mental (insult and obscenity), sexual and sometimes financial violence that may result from addiction. The most important reason for domestic homicide is the failure to provide legal and social protection for women. This incites hatred for the husband, which arises from repeated victimization in a coercive relationship with the husband. These women cannot end this coercive relationship because of insufficient or unavailable legal, social or family protection. Moreover, the process of divorce for a woman in Iran is quite complex. This article also examines the potential defense of mental capacity and self-defense and its place in the Iranian penal code. Based on this research, this article argues for the need for the legislature to review the death penalty for this kind of crime and to consider other possible responses to such murders.

Legal and Institutional Functionality in the Protection of Women – Victims of Domestic Violence in the Republic of Macedonia – Present Situation and Future Perspectives

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 131
Author(s):  
Zorica Saltirovska Professor ◽  
Sunchica Dimitrijoska Professor
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Women Victims ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
National Level ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Republic Of Macedonia ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Gender Based

Gender-based violence is a form of discrimination that prevents women from enjoying the rights and liberties on an equal level with men. Inevitably, domestic violence shows the same trend of victimizing women to such a degree that the term “domestic violence” is increasingly becoming synonymous with “violence against women”. The Istanbul Convention defines domestic violence as "gender-based violence against women", or in other words "violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately." The situation is similar in the Republic of Macedonia, where women are predominantly victims of domestic violence. However, the Macedonian legal framework does not define domestic violence as gender-based violence, and thus it does not define it as a specific form of discrimination against women. The national legislation stipulates that victims are to be protected in both a criminal and a civil procedure, and the Law on Prevention and Protection from Domestic Violence determines the actions of the institutions and civil organizations in the prevention of domestic violence and the protection of victims. The system for protection of victims of domestic violence closely supports the Law on Social Protection and the Law on Free Legal Aid, both of which include provisions on additional assistance for women victims of domestic violence. However, the existing legislation has multiple deficiencies and does not allow for a greater efficacy in implementing the prescribed measures for the protection of victims of domestic violence. For this reason, as well as due to the inconsistent implementation of legal solutions of this particular issue, the civil sector is constantly expressing their concern about the increasingly wider spread of domestic violence against women and about the protection capabilities at their disposal. The lack of recognition of all forms of gender-based violence, the trivial number of criminal sentences against persons who perform acts of domestic violence, the insufficient support offered to victims – including victim shelters, legal assistance, and counseling, and the lack of systematic databases on domestic violence cases on a national level, are a mere few of the many issues clearly pointing to the inevitable conclusion that the protection of women-victims of domestic violence is inadequate. Hence, the functionality and efficiency of both the existing legislation and the institutions in charge of protection and support of women – victims of domestic violence is being questioned, which is also the subject for analysis in this paper.

scholarly journals The Effect of Sex and Perpetrator-Victim Relationship on Perceptions of Domestic Homicide

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda C. Karlsson ◽  
Tuulia Malén ◽  
Johanna K. Kaakinen ◽  
Jan Antfolk
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Female Offenders ◽  
Child Victims ◽  
Domestic Homicide ◽  
Male Offenders ◽  
Crime Type ◽  
Biological Children ◽  
Mock Jury

Previous research on how stereotypes affect perceptions of intimate partner violence and domestic homicide has found that violence committed by men is perceived as more severe and judged more harshly than violence committed by women. The present mock jury study investigated how perpetrator sex (male or female), crime type (familicide or filicide), and relatedness between perpetrator and child victims (biological or step) affect laypeople’s perceptions of the appropriate consequence of the crime, the reason for the offence, responsibility of the perpetrator, the likelihood of certain background factors being present, and the risk of future violence. One hundred sixty-seven university students read eight fictive descriptions of cases of multiple-victim domestic homicides, in which the sex of the perpetrator, the crime type, and the relatedness between the perpetrator and the child victims were manipulated. We found that participants recommended equally severe punishments to and placed the same amount of responsibility on male and female offenders. Female offenders were, however, regarded as mentally ill to a larger extent and perceived more likely to have been victims of domestic violence compared to male offenders. Male offenders, on the other hand, were seen as more likely to have committed domestic violence in the past, having been unemployed, have substance abuse, hold aggressive attitudes, and commit violent acts in the future. Participants also perceived offenders killing biological children as more mentally ill than offenders killing stepchildren. The present study extends the literature on the possible effect of stereotypes on decision making in psychiatric and judicial contexts.

Early identification of mild traumatic brain injury in female victims of domestic violence

2003 ◽  
Vol 188 (5) ◽  
pp. S71-S76 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Corrigan ◽  
Martha Wolfe ◽  
W.Jerry Mysiw ◽  
Rebecca D. Jackson ◽  
Jennifer A. Bogner
Keyword(s):  
Traumatic Brain Injury ◽  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Brain Injury ◽  
Mild Traumatic Brain Injury ◽  
Early Identification ◽  
Female Victims

Legal aid for female victims of domestic violence

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-156
Author(s):  
Xinyu Liu ◽  
Jing Wang ◽  
Yu Li
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Legal Aid ◽  
Female Victims

Tanzanian Criminal Law

2020 ◽  
pp. 112-116
Author(s):  
Peter H. Reid
Keyword(s):  
Death Penalty ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Penal Code ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
Evidence Code ◽  
British Colony ◽  
British Colonial ◽  
Civil Codes ◽  
Procedure Codes

“If a Person is convicted of murder, the death penalty is obligatory.” Although Tanzanian criminal law is derived from the British colonial legal system, by the time of trial changes had been made. The Indian Codes—that is, Penal Code, Evidence Code, and certain civil codes—had been developed starting in the mid-1820s by legal scholars in England. These scholar took the unwritten common law of England and produced coherent, consistent codes to be used in the British colony of India. The Indian Codes were adopted in East Africa, including Tanganyika, in the early 1920s. This chapter describes the criminal law applicable to the Bill Kinsey case, including the interplay of customary law with the colonial-based evidence, criminal, and criminal procedure codes.

The Origins of LWOP in California

2021 ◽  
pp. 16-48
Author(s):  
Marion Vannier
Keyword(s):  
Death Penalty ◽  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Penal Code ◽  
Archival Research ◽  
Life Imprisonment ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Capital Murder ◽  
Historical Investigation ◽  
Prison Wardens

Chapter 1 turns to the Californian Congress where opponents of the death penalty first lobbied for LWOP before legislators. It critically examines the period during which the idea of sentencing offenders to life imprisonment with no possibility of release first emerged, starting in the early 1900s and culminating with the introduction of LWOP for capital murder in 1978 in the Californian Penal Code. What emerges from this archival research is that different experts—prison wardens, police officials, academics, spiritual leaders, and criminologists—offered LWOP as a strategic way for legislators to argue against the death penalty. This novel approach was however diverted from its progressive endeavours to serve more punitive agendas. Legislators concerned with preserving capital punishment in contexts of sensationalized crimes and early forms of populist demands drove the reforms that introduced LWOP. This historical investigation reveals that the punishment’s particular severity can serve agendas which are seemingly in tension with one another.

Homicide

2020 ◽  
pp. 1478-1486
Author(s):  
Matthew Large ◽  
Olav Nielssen
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Substance Use ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Psychotic Disorders ◽  
Domestic Homicide ◽  
People With Mental Illness ◽  
Geographic Regions ◽  
Disproportionate Number

A range of killings of one person by another can be described as a homicide. Homicide rates vary greatly between geographic regions, reflecting differences in social factors such as weapon availability, patterns of substance use, the efficacy of the police and other institutions, and overall levels of violent crime. Domestic homicide is killing within a family and includes fatal domestic violence and most homicides of infants, children, and older people. Most homicides by people with mental illness are of family members, but most domestic homicide offenders are not mentally ill. People with mental illness, particularly those with schizophrenia, commit a small percentage of all homicides, but a disproportionate number, compared to the incidence of mental illness. Mental health professionals have a role in preventing homicides by offering interventions for domestic violence, substance use disorder, and the early and continued treatment of psychotic disorders.

“We've Got a Right to Fight; We're Married”: Domestic Homicide in Chicago, 1875–1920

2003 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey S. Adler
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
African American ◽  
Gender Roles ◽  
Gender Identity ◽  
Family Violence ◽  
Domestic Homicide ◽  
Culturally Specific ◽  
Cultural Assumptions ◽  
German Immigrants ◽  
Single Category

Scholars often treat family violence as a single category and argue that domestic violence typically reflects conflict over gender roles. Such a focus has been well placed. But if data on domestic homicide in Chicago from 1875 to 1920 are disaggregated by ethnicity and race, important patterns emerge. Domestic homicide, for example, assumed culturally specific forms. German immigrants, Italian immigrants, and African-American Chicagoans killed loved ones for different reasons, at different rates, and with different family members involved. Although the violence revolved around challenges to gender identity and expectations, each group defined such challenges in distinct ways, reflecting a complex blend of cultural assumptions and material circumstances.

Practicing Political Economy: Anthropology and Domestic Violence Advocacy

2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 4-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Wies
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Emotional Abuse ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
The United States ◽  
Physical Assault ◽  
Domestic Violence Shelter ◽  
Victims Of Violence ◽  
Number Of Individuals ◽  
Intervention Mechanism

Domestic violence affects a quarter of women in the United States over the course of their lifetime and includes physical assault, sexual violence, emotional abuse, and stalking behavior perpetrated by a spouse, boyfriend/girlfriend, or live-in partner (Tjaden and Thoennes 2000). The profound number of individuals affected by domestic violence has given rise to the domestic violence shelter service sector. Domestic violence shelters in the United States are a result of the process of organizing for social change to address the problem of domestic violence and serve as the primary intervention mechanism for violence against women. Shelters provide safety and refuge for victims, as well as basic needs such as housing and food. In addition, domestic violence centers offer continuing support for victims of violence through casework, advocacy, counseling, and other services.

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