Gender Bender

More specifically, I seek to lend understanding to those serial homicides committed specifically by women in dominant roles as murderer. Women who acted alone or in concert with another where the accomplice was in a subordinate role are also examined. Patterns suggest that women who commit serial murder and are dominant tend to have significantly different patterns of action when compared to those of men in the same role. Trends include, but are not limited to, the following: women are less likely to use physical violence, are more likely to use poison, are more likely to choose children and men as part of their victim pool, and have a higher estimated kill ratio than men. Implications of the lack of recognition of these killers’ actions for both research and detection are discussed. Diverting the gaze from the acts of men, however, to the more rare acts of women might serve to highlight some of our sexual biases when we look at the criminal acts of women. The women outlined  have stepped out of the more traditional role and moved into another more dangerous social place: the offender class comprised of serial murderers. These women often cloaked themselves in their vulnerability, committing their atrocities in their own quiet way. What is ironic, as this chapter demonstrates, is that historically when a woman has made a habit of killing it does not attract attention. Her persona as the “gentler sex” comes in conflict with her actions, and other explanations are offered in an effort to rationalize the number of missing persons associated with a particular woman. The killings, or attempted killings, take place over a prolonged period of time with a cooling down period between homicides. This killer class is more often male than female. The motives to these crimes are often intensely personal, giving the outward appearance of randomness. Finally, as is demonstrated in the pages that follow, whereas men have had motives that are more often associated with sexual fantasy. Women often commit these crimes for more instrumental reasons, such as financial gain. Although these are predominant themes, it should be noted that the reasons for murdering, for both men and women of this class, are varied and sex does not ensure the motive type. Women are also more likely to exclusively target men over women; only three women targeted a victim pool comprised only of women. In almost all cases the victims of torture were adults or young adults. Women who used torture operated in some sort of leading capacity, killing devotees, slaves, or servants under their care. Not only is torture unusual, it is reflective of a more rare, more complex social killing structure available to these women. The motives changed depending on the individual circumstance. Some killed for more altruistic reasons, such as the desire to free other women from the oppression of their husbands or to have their children in heaven with them; or they simply felt that killing people was a form of higher calling. Some killed those who interfered with their desire to marry, and another killed to get more attention from a partner. One simply hated seeing others being happy.The profiles that were created around this offender class grew out of this social experience. They are backed by the typologies and theoretical explanations of male violent behaviour. Women, as a subset of this offender class are poorly explained by these ideas. Moreover  women were allotted the category of “compliant victim,” with the assumption that the women who participated in team killings were coerced. Women are presently responsible for approximately 10% of all crime, but the types of crime in which women are participating are changing. They are altering because women’s access to opportunities is changing. It is interesting that, on one hand, women are inhibited from entering into traditionally male roles and on the other hand are treated, in many cases, like men. Women are categorized using definitions of behaviour and attitudes constructed in a male-dominated social sphere; they are subject to court procedures that have traditionally dealt with men and have been issued sentences equal to those of men. When sex disparity emerges, it is often called preferential treatment. Equality within the criminal justice system means treating a woman like a man, which in fact is not equality. If it were, we would find the reverse to be equally palatable: Why not treat men like women? The female serial murderer tends to be less violent and more discreet than her male counterpart. Therefore, her crimes are less likely to be noticed in the community, whereas the male serial murderer’s activities are high profile. The death of his victims rarely escapes public attention. The most common weapon of the female multiple murderer is poison. Male serial murderers often use more violent methods of killing, including bludgeoning, stabbing, strangulation, and mutilation. Women rarely overpower their victim to kill them. The female serial murderer gains the victim’s trust in an effort to find vulnerability, in contrast to the male serial murderer, who uses the victim’s lack of physical strength as the primary weakness. Women do not need to change residence as much as men do in this offender class. This is because the female serial murderer draws less attention to herself and to the death of the victim. The murders she commits are considerably less obvious. She often can effectively explain the sudden disappearance of an individual from the trusted perspective of someone who was usually in close contact. The male serial murderer, on the other hand, is more likely to kill people in different communities, towns, cities, or states/provinces if he wishes to avoid detection. Serial murders by women are often accompanied by the secondary crime of theft and ultimately fraud. Those by men are most often accompanied by sexual assault. However, it has been also noted that neither the male nor female serial murderers kill in order to commit these secondary offenses. These other crimes are perpetrated because there is an opportunity to do so. To take another’s life seems to be the primary motivating force behind the murder. There are also other similarities between male and female serial murderers. Both plan “traps” whereby the murderer could take advantage of the victim. Men more often stalk their victims at various locations, whereas women are more likely to lure the victim to a single location. In either situation, the murderer rarely has control of who falls into this trap. Each victim is chosen as the opportunity for the murderer presents itself. The motives behind setting the traps, by the male or female murderer, are personal and therefore undetectable to the public.

Finally, it was noted that these particular sex divisions for serial murders are not to be considered descriptive models for these offenses. It is likely that the changing trends in the larger society will affect trends presently existing with regard to serial murder. It is predicted that as the roles of men and women begin to assimilate, moving away from the traditional models, so too will the identifying markers of the male and female serial killers. Detection, and therefore the definition of serial murder, is critical to the apprehension of these dangerous people. It is the apparent random nature of the crime that makes the ability to identify a homicide as the work of a serial murderer very difficult. Part of the difficulty lies in the recognition that there indeed is a larger problem of definition. Although serial murderesses have existed for centuries, as argued throughout this chapter, they have been overlooked or placed in some other category of homicide. Many of these women have been categorized with monikers such as “Black Widow” or “Angel of Death” but have not been considered part of the larger problem of serial murder. Therefore, in the future, an emphasis on incorporating women into the serial murder equation should be implemented. Understanding that these are only approximations, and that data in this area are somewhat problematic, it still appears that for those who come to the public’s attention women historically appear to have been able to get away with more murder largely because of their ability to artfully hide behind presumptions of the “gentler sex.”

Acknowledgements:

The Police Department;

https://www.politie.nl/mijnbuurt/politiebureaus/05/burgwallen.html and a Chief Inspector – Mr. Erik Akerboom     ©

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