Family Violence: Homicide 201place appears to be the confines of your own home, behind locked doors and set
alarms. The reality, though, is that the risk of dying at the hands of an acquaintance
or family member far exceeds the threat of being killed by a complete stranger.
Familial violence, more specifically familial homicide, is much more common
than most people would like to believe. This section explores the various forms
of familial homicide such as battered women, infanticide, Munchausen disorder by
proxy, parricide, familicide, and the causal factors that lead to such incidents.
According to the 1994 Bureau of Justice Statistics report focusing on murders
within families, 16% of all murders committed in 1988 were committed against
family members. The breakdown of these findings indicated that 6.5% of the victims
were murdered by their spouses, 3.5% by parents, 1.9% were killed by their children,
1.5% were victims of sibling violence, and another 2.6% were victimized by other
family members (Dawson & Langan, 1994). The following vignette is an illustration
of family violence.
After an exhausting day of caring for the children, cleaning the house, and working
at her part-time job, Carla was laying down for a quick nap. Sleeping a bit longer than
expected, Carla was late preparing dinner. When her husband Charlie came home, he
was infuriated by her tardiness, laziness, and insensitivity to his needs. He had just lost
a big contract at work and did not appreciate her lack of consideration. Feeling it his
obligation to set her straight, which he had continually done in the past, Charlie picked
up a pot of boiling water from the stove and threw it in Carla s face. Screaming for help,
Carla charged toward the door where Charlie proceeded to hit her over the head with
the pot. Carla died 3 days later from a subdural hcmatoma.Literature Review
Domestic homicides are one of the most common forms of familial violence. Ac-
cording to the Presidential Task Force on Violence in the Family, in 1996 as many
as 1300 battered women were killed by their abusers (Ewing, 1997). Forty percent
of all homicides in the United States are the result of domestic violence (K. Browne
& Herbert, 1997). Domestic violence is nothing new to society but has gained
public attention due to the shift in opinions regarding domestic relations. In his-
torical context, women were seen as the property of their husbands and, therefore,
occasional beatings for their disobedience were expected. Rarely, if ever, were men
charged with a crime for beating or killing their wives.
Even with the increased awareness of domestic violence, many women were left
legally powerless and vulnerable to the abuse. Women who sought the protection
of law enforcement found themselves beating against closed doors or, if they were
helped, it was only with the granting of a restraining order. In reality, though, a
piece of paper will not be effective when an angered spouse has a mission (Snow,
1997). In all fairness, the elevated number of domestic violence cases is not entirely
due to shortcomings with a faulty system. At times, battered women refuse to press
charges against their abusive spouses, given the ramifications they face once the