Femicide in Jamaica Glendene Lemard, PhD Research Assistant Professor University of Massachusetts Amherst [email protected] 413-545-2379.

Femicide in Jamaica

Glendene Lemard, PhDResearch Assistant Professor

University of Massachusetts [email protected]

413-545-2379

Murder Capital of the World

Homicide Rates per 100,000 persons…

World 8

Americas 19

United States 4

Jamaica’s homicide rate in 2005 was 64 per 100,000 persons

METHODSMETHODS• Review of police reports on homicides 1998-2002

•Find trends

•Bi-variate analyses conducted to find significant trends

•PROCESS

•IMPLICATIONS

Femicide in Jamaica

• Very different from male homicides

• Prior to 1998 data not disaggregated by gender

• Overshadowed by male homicide figures

Homicide in JamaicaHomicide in JamaicaVictim Demographics

89 91

11 9

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1998-2002 2007

Victim Sex

Percent

Male Female

Femicide data in Jamaica

• Majority of homicides are reported to the police

• Police capture figures from the case narratives that are important– Gender (since 1998)– Weapon– Motive– Location– Age

Motive for homicide by Victim Sex 1998-2002

MOTIVE Male Female

Count Rate Count Rate

Dispute 1174 27% 227 44%

Reprisal 1336 31% 143 27%

Robbery 613 14% 56 11%

Drugs/Gang 948 22% 49 9%

Rape 3 -- 27 5%

Other 276 6% 20 4%

Total 4350 100% 522 100%

Motive for Homicide

“Other” includes mob killings, police criminal confrontation, unknown

Policy based on motive will overlook key issue with femicide: DISPUTE

Implement Used (2007)

Implement Used

70

15

3

12

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Gun Knife Machete Others

Implement

Percent of femicide cases

Age of murder victims

• Data from 2007– Minimum age (months

old)– Maximum age (90)– Average age (30)– Most common age

(21)

Police Classification

• Definitions– Unwritten– Normative “just understood”

• Motive– Domestic violence versus dispute

• Location unclear• Data not disaggregated into useful

categories• Much useful data not coded

Graph 5 -20: Location of Murders Classified by Police 1998 -2002 Location of Murder (Police)

.3%

.4%

62.1%

35.7%

1.5%

Other

Open Lot

Street

Premises

Home

Graph 5 -21: Location of Murders Reclassified from the Narrative 1998 -2002 Location of Murder (Circumstances)

Undetermined/Premise

Open lot

Countryside/River/Se

Farm

Residential/Penal

Industrial/Construct

Sports/Athletic

Commercial

Street/Roadway

School

Home

17.3%

15.1%

56.6%

Police Classification Home: 1.5%

ReclassificationHome: 15.1%

Police classification of location is not

sufficient

Homicide Location

(Males)

•12% Home

•59% Street

•6% Commercial

•0.8% Open lot

•17% Undetermined

Location of Homicide

Victim-Perpetrator Relationship

Rape-related femicide

• Information from narrative• Seem to suggest stranger

rape– Violent rape…strangulation

etc

• Lack of investigation on serial nature of rapes

• Age of the victims important

• More research needed

Typical cases from narrativeVictim was at home asleep with her common-law husband

when a group of men armed with guns kicked open the front door of house, entered and fired shots hitting victim all over

her body. She was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced dead by the doctor

Victim was at home sleeping when a group of men armed with guns fired shots inside the house hitting

victim all over her body. The men then threw explosives inside the house causing a fire. Victim

was pronounced dead at the hospital

Number of Assailants (2007)Number of Assailants in Incident

41

5

21

33

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

1 2 3 or more Unknown

Number of Assailants

Percent of Femicide

Intimate Partner Violence

The victim was at home talking to her boyfriend when her ex-boyfriend came there kicked off a side door and

opened fire on the victim hitting her in her left side. Her boyfriend ran and escaped through a back door.

Victim was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Victim and accused who is her boyfriend had a dispute during which he used a knife to slash her throat. She was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced

dead by the doctor on duty

What we know

AgeMotive (basic)CircumstancesWeaponLocation37% of suspects arrested

10% of females

What we don’t knowVictim-perpetrator relationship

Motives for reprisals

Motives for executions

Correlations motive and weapon

SuspectsGroups of men? Why?

Information from Interviews

• Changing gender relations• Women and children increasingly targeted in

reprisal killings• Indirect links to the drug trade and gang activity• Love triangles are a problem• Females sometimes kill females• Disputes get out of hand

Recommendations

• More in depth research on circumstances

• Examine cases of in-direct abuse

• Strengthen systematic surveillance

• Training of police force• Use data on femicide to

target interventions

Acknowledgements

• Statistics Unit of the Jamaica Police Force• Dr. Anthony Harriott at the University of the West Indies• Dr. David Hemenway at Harvard School of Public Health• Ms. Julaine Richardson of the Jamaica Police Force• Mr. Gordon Wright of the Jamaica Police Force• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention