1. . Strengthening Understanding of Femicide Washington DC April 2008 Rebecca Emerson Dobash Russell Dobash School of Law, University of Manchester, England & School of Justice and Social Inquiry, Arizona State University

2. Murder in Britain Study (funded by ESRC, Economic & Social Research Council, UK) Aims & Approaches Examine & Compare Different Types of Murder Risk Factors (individual, socio-cultural) Situational Contexts Circumstances (Relationships, issues) Lethal Intentions Life Course Methods -3 datasets: Homicide Index Case Files Interviews

3. Murder in Britain Study – 3 sources of data Homicide Index: All homicides (1980-2000) England/Wales n=12,000 (27vars) Scotland n=2,000 (19vars) Case Files: sample n=866 425 vars Sample from all murderers currently serving life in prison: England/Wales(n=3,000) Scotland (n=500) Depth Interviews: sample n=200 MenWomen England14320 Scotland 37 0 Total18020 …. Overall Total=200

4. INTERVIEW SCHEDULE Offenders Perspective (n=200, 180men & 20women) Background: Age, employment, education, ethnicity, religion, marital status, children, … Childhood: Parents/carers, Family issues, Childhood discipline, problems, abuse Childhood offending & substance abuse The Murder Event: Personal circumstances, Murder event, Immediately after event Adult Life & Relationships: Offending, Alcohol-Drugs,Intimate Rels, Children, Violence to Partner Attitudes & Perceptions: About victims & others (ethnic groups, elderly, women, gays,... Prison & Prison Programmes: Adjustment, problems, violence, programmes,...

5. MURDER CASEFILES (n=866) documents from… Police Investigation Trial Judge Summary Forensic Report Govs & Prison Officers (Assessment, Life Plan, Conduct) Probation (Pre & post sentence, prison) Psychiatric/ Medical (Pre & post sentence, prison) Psychologist Parole Review Offending Behaviour Programmes Offender Accounts

6. MURDER CASEFILES (n=866) information about… Murder Event Violence - Injuries - Circumstances - Situation - Intentions Perpetrator - Victim Relationship Eye Witnesses, Ear Witnesses & Others Legal Process/Criminal Career Current Charges & Previous Convictions Life in Prison Education, Programmes & Problems Childhood Background Family - School - Social & Legal Services Adult Circumstances Intimate Rels - Personal Problems -Social/Legal Services

7. Murder in Britain Study Relationship Between Victim and Offender (male offenders only, n=786)

8. The Murder of Women FEMALE perpetrator & FEMALE victims only (F-F) n=29

9. Murder in Britain Study MALE perpetrator & FEMALE victims only (M-F) n=330

10. Dobash & Dobash COMPARISONS OF INTIMATE PARTNER MURDER & MALE-MALE MURDER Murder in Britain Study: IP Murder 106 men MM Murder 424 men

11. Dobash & Dobash Intimate Partner Murder & Male-Male Murder Circumstances & the Murder Event

12. D ob as h & D ob as h COMPARISONS OF INTIMATE PARTNER MURDER & NON-LETHAL ASSAULT Murder in Britain Study: IPMurder 106 men Violent Men Study- Evaluation of CJ Sanctions : IPViolence 122 abusers

13. Dobash & Dobash Murder in Britain Study Lethal and Non-lethal Intimate Partner Violence Circumstances & Murder/Violent Event

14. Method- Benefits to Knowledge About Femicide Benefits of this Approach: Some general findings to date: -Combo quantitative & qualitative data -Intensive & extensive data -Identify wide range of femicides (types) -Intensive analysis of each type -Compare different types of femicide & other types of murder -Identify under-researched femicides (e.g., sexual murders, older women, collaterals, etc) -Examine dynamics of murder event (situations, circumstances, motivations) -Knowledge about perpetrators (life-course, previous violence & offending, cognitions about murder event and the victim) Significance of: -Gender -Mens orientations to women & female partners -Specialists in violence to women - Relationship (dating, co-habitation, marriage) (tenuous, contested, conflicted) -Separation, estrangement (changing the project) - Source of conflict - (possessiveness, jealousy,.. -Specific violence in murder event (sex, use of objects, strangulation) - Conventional men who murder

15. Homicide - publications (2008).. What were they thinking? Cognitions of men who kill an intimate partner. (in preparation). (2008).. Out of the Blue: Men Who Murder an Intimate Partner. Feminist Criminology, Dobash, R. E., Dobash, R. P. & Cavanagh, K. (under review). 2007.. Lethal and Non-Lethal Violence Against an Intimate Partner: Comparing Male Murderers with non-lethal abusers, Violence Against Women: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal, 13, 4:1-27. Dobash, R. E.; Dobash, R. P., Cavanagh, K. & Medina- Ariza, J. J. 2007.. Onset of offending and lifecourse of Men Convicted of Murder, Homicide Studies, 11, 243-271. R.P. Dobash, R. E. Dobash, K. Cavanagh, D. Smith and J. J. Medina-Ariza.

16. Homicide - publications 2007.. The murder of children by fathers in the context of child abuse. Child Abuse and Neglect, 31, 731-746. K. Cavanagh, R. E. Dobash and R. P. Dobash. 2005.. Men who murder children inside and outside the family. British Jr. of Social Work, 35,667-688. Cavanagh, K., Dobash, R.E., Dobash, R.P. 2004.. Not an ordinary killer-just an ordinary guy. Men who kill their intimate female partner. Violence Against Women, Dobash, R.E., Dobash, R.P, Cavanagh, K. & Lewis, R. 2003.. Researching homicide: Methodological issues in the exploration of lethal violence. In R. Lee and E. Stanko (Eds.), Researching Violence: Essays on Methodology and Measurement, pp. 49-65, London: Routledge. Lewis, R., Dobash, R. E., Dobash, R. P. & Cavanagh, K.