Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T16:26:04.186Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Social Distribution of Femicide in Urban Canada, 1921–1988

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Rosemary Gartner  and
Bill McCarthy
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

How well do conventional perspectives on homicide account for the social distribution of femicide, or the killing of females? An analysis of 670 cases of femicide in Toronto and Vancouver from 1921 to 1988 provides stronger support for an alternative perspective that acknowledges both the intimate, domestic character of femicide and the historically contingent nature of opportunities and motivations for femicide. Rather than coming to resemble male homicide, femicide remains as concentrated in private, domestic locations and relationships as it was seventy years ago. However, the relationships between femicide and some social statuses, such as women's employment, have changed over time.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 25 , Issue 2 , 1991 , pp. 287 - 311
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 by The Law and Society Association

Footnotes

An earlier version of this article was presented at the Law and Society Association annual meetings, Amsterdam, 26–29 June 1991. The research was partially supported by Humanities and Social Science Research Committee grants to the authors from their respective universities. We thank the Homicide Division of the Metropolitan Toronto Police Department and Major Crimes Division of the Vancouver Police Department for their cooperation.

References

ALLEN, Craig M., and Murray A., STRAUS (1980) “Resources, Power, and Husband-Wife Violence,” in Straus, M. S. and Hotaling, G. T. (eds.), The Social Causes of Husband-Wife Violence. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
ARCHER, Dane, and Rosemary, GARTNER (1984) Violence and Crime in Cross-national Perspective. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
BROWN, Bruce W. (1980) “Wife-Employment, Marital Equality, and Husband-Wife Violence,” in Straus, M. A. and Hotaling, G. T. (eds.), The Social Causes of Husband-Wife Violence. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
COHEN, Lawrence, James, KLUEGEL, and Kenneth, LAND (1981) “Social Inequality and Predatory Criminal Victimization: An Exposition and Test of a Formal Theory,” 46 American Sociological Review 505.Google Scholar
COHEN, Lawrence, and Marcus, FELSON (1979) “Social Change and Crime Rate Trends: A Routine Activity Approach,” 44 American Sociological Review 588.Google Scholar
DALY, Martin, and Margo, WILSON (1988) Homicide. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.Google ScholarPubMed
FIALA, Robert, and LaFREE, Gary (1988) “Cross-national Determinants of Child Homicide,” 53 American Sociological Review 432.Google Scholar
GARTNER, Rosemary (1991) “Family Structure, Welfare Spending, and Child Homicide in Developed Democracies,” 53 Journal of Marriage and the Family 231.Google Scholar
GARTNER, Rosemary (1990) “The Victims of Homicide: A Temporal and Cross-national Comparison,” 55 American Sociological Review 92.Google Scholar
GARTNER, Rosemary, Kathryn, BAKER, and Fred C., PAMPEL (1990) 37 “Gender Stratification and the Gender Gap in Homicide Victimization,” 37 Social Problems 593.Google Scholar
HINDELANG, Michael J., GOTTFREDSON, Michael R., and James, GAROFALO (1978) Victims of Personal Crime: An Empirical Foundation for a Theory of Personal Victimization. Cambridge. MA: Ballinger.Google Scholar
HOME OFFICE (1980) Criminal Statistics for England and Wales. London: H.M. Stationery Office.Google Scholar
JONES, Charles, Lorna, MARSDEN, and Lorne, TEPPERMAN (1990) Lives of Their Own: The Individualization of Women's Lives. Toronto: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
LUCKENBILL, David F. (1977) “Criminal Homicide as a Situated Transaction,” 25 Social Problems 176.Google Scholar
O'BRIEN, John E. (1971) “Violence in Divorce-prone Families,” 33 Journal of Marriage and the Family 692.Google Scholar
PARKER, Robert N., and M. Dwayne, SMITH (1979) “Deterrence, Poverty, and Type of Homicide,” 85 American Journal of Sociology 614.Google Scholar
PRENTICE, Alison, BOURNE, Paula, BRANDT, Gail Cuthbert, LIGHT, Beth, MITCHINSON, Wendy, and Naomi, BLACK (1988) Canadian Women: A History. Toronto: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.Google Scholar
RADFORD, Jill, and Diana E. H., RUSSELL (1991) Femicide: Politics of Woman Killing. Boston: Twayne.Google Scholar
SANDAY, Peggy R. (1981) Female Power and Male Dominance: On the Origins of Sexual Inequality. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
STATISTICS CANADA (1989) Homicide Statistics. Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.Google Scholar
STATISTICS CANADA (1976) Homicide in Canada: A Statistical Synopsis. Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.Google Scholar
STOUT, Karen D. (1989) “Intimate Femicide: Effects of Legislation and Social Services,” 4 Affilia 21.Google Scholar
WHARTON, Amy S., and James N., BARON (1987) “So Happy Together? The Impact of Gender Segregation on Men at Work,” 52 American Sociological Review 574.Google Scholar
WILLIAMS, Kirk R., and Robert L., FLEWELLING (1988) “The Social Production of Criminal Homicide: A Comparative Study of Disaggregated Rates in Three American Cities,” 53 American Sociological Review 421.Google Scholar
WOLFGANG, Marvin (1958) Patterns in Criminal Homicide. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar