Abstract
D.Litt. et Phil.
Ewing (1997) states that battered women who kill intimate male partners have not been
the subject of much systematic research. In fact, Wilbanks (in Adinkrah, 2000) laments
the lack of a systematic description of the patterns and trends of homicide by women.
Furthermore, as with most studies of crime, the majority of the emerging research on
women and lethal crime has focused on the United States and Great Britain (Adinkrah,
2000). There has been relatively little research directed towards the study of female
homicide in small, third world countries. Research on women and intimate partner
homicide in developing countries is sorely needed if criminal justice professionals are to
realise the quest to understand homicide more fully and to formulate a conceptually broad
and cross culturally valid theory of female homicide (Adinkrah, 2000). Furthermore,
violence against women is a devastating social problem which commonly occurs in
developing societies where gender roles are strictly defined and enforced (Ogbuji, 2004).
Domestic violence becomes even more of a social concern when it leads to intimate
partner violence.
Prior research conducted on homicide committed by women suggests that when a woman
kills a male partner it is often in response to a pattern of physical abuse at the hands of
their mates (Adinkrah, 2000). The purpose of this exploratory study was to add to the
small but hopefully growing body of research on battered women incarcerated for killing
a male intimate partner. The Department of Correctional Services indicates that there are
currently 163 women imprisoned for killing a male intimate partner. Yet the
psychological issues surrounding female murderers go largely unexplored (Dept. of
Correctional Services, personal communication, September 6, 2002).
The aims of the study were as follows:
• To form a biographical profile of a typical woman who kills her male intimate
partner in the context of an abusive relationship.
• To form a personality profile of a typical literate woman who kills her male
intimate partner in the context of an abusive relationship.
• To form a literacy profile of the typical literate abused woman who kills an
intimate male partner in the context of an abusive relationship.
• To compare women who employ a third party to commit the murder with women
who commit the murder themselves in order to identify any significant differences
between the two groups on either a contextual or personality level.
• To formulate possible guidelines for a rehabilitation program suited to this group
of women.
• Finally, to describe two participants’ unique narratives to informally highlight
possible themes as well as add context and depth to the quantitative findings of
the study.