Femicide in Jamaica

1
Femicide in Jamaica

• Glendene Lemard, PhD
• Research Assistant Professor
• University of Massachusetts Amherst
• glemard_at_schoolph.umass.edu
• 413-545-2379

2
Homicide Rates per 100,000 persons
World 8 Americas 19 United Stat
es 4
Jamaicas homicide rate in 2005 was 64 per
100,000 persons
3
METHODS

• Review of police reports on homicides
  1998-2002
  
• Find trends
• Bi-variate analyses conducted to find significant
  trends
  
• PROCESS
• IMPLICATIONS

4
Femicide in Jamaica

• Very different from male homicides
• Prior to 1998 data not disaggregated by gender
• Overshadowed by male homicide figures

5
Homicide in Jamaica
6
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

7
Motive for Homicide
Other includes mob killings, police criminal
confrontation, unknown Policy based on motive wil
l overlook key issue with femicide DISPUTE
8
Implement Used (2007)
9
Age of murder victims

• Data from 2007
• Minimum age (months old)
• Maximum age (90)
• Average age (30)
• Most common age (21)

10
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

11
Police classification of location is not
sufficient
Police Classification Home 1.5 Reclassifica
tion
Home 15.1
12
Location of Homicide

• Homicide Location
• (Males)
• 12 Home
• 59 Street
• 6 Commercial
• 0.8 Open lot
• 17 Undetermined

13
Victim-Perpetrator Relationship
14
Rape-related femicide

• Information from narrative
• Seem to suggest stranger rape
• Violent rapestrangulation etc
• Lack of investigation on serial nature of rapes
• Age of the victims important
• More research needed

15
Typical cases from narrative
Victim 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
16
Number of Assailants (2007)
17
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
18
What we know

• Age
• Motive (basic)
• Circumstances
• Weapon
• Location
• 37 of suspects arrested
• 10 of females

19
What we dont know

• Victim-perpetrator relationship
• Motives for reprisals
• Motives for executions
• Correlations
• motive and weapon
• Suspects
• Groups of men? Why?

20
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

21
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

22
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