Nine in ten murders are committed by men, research finds

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Distinctive differences between how male and female kill people have been identified in a major new study into the gender dynamics of murder.

It has long been established within gender scholarship that men are much more likely to commit murder than women are, although debate prevails as to whether this is due to physiological factors such as hormonal differences or gender socialisation which promotes and condones male violence while encouraging women to be passive.

New research into female and male murderers in Sweden analysed all cases of deadly violence in the country between 1990 and 2010 and has been published in the International Journal of Forensic Mental Health. It found that for every ten murders, male perpetrators will have committed nine, while female perpetrators will have committed one.

Researchers found this split between gender of perpetrators was stable throughout the 30 year period covered by the research.

Other key gender differences noted by the researchers included that women were most likely to kill using a knife as a weapon in some way if the victim is an adult or to use an implement to smother or asphyxiate a victim if they are a child. Previous research has suggested women may be more likely to use an implement in violent crime, due to actual or perceived lower body strength than men.

Fatal attacks by women were also much more likely to occur within the home environment, whereas attacks by men were more likely to occur outside of homes; at work, in public or other environments.

They also found that after infanticide, the murder of a child, women were more likely to kill themselves as well, than male murderers are.

Thomas Nilsson, Researcher at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg which took part in the study, said: “The study showed that the proportion of female perpetrators in relation to men largely remained constant during the time period studied.

“The social and criminological differences we found between male and female perpetrators of deadly violence should be taken into account in the implementation of preventative measures, and the effectiveness of these measures should in turn be evaluated in future research.

“These measures should focus in particular on issues relating to the relationship between the victim and the perpetrators as well as the crime scenes, since the primary differences between male and female perpetrators appear in those areas.”