Friends of the Forensic Science Club, this week we present the paper “Characteristics of persons accused of intimate partner homicide amongst forensic psychiatric observations”, by Valabdass, S. N.; Subramaney, U. and Edge, A. (2021), in which authors carry out a study to try to obtain a criminal profile of those accused of violence against their intimate partner that are also in psychiatric centers waiting for trial.
Violence within the intimate partner is a matter we have previously discussed in other posts, and we already know that it is a problem with great dimension that must be addressed urgently.
Homicide within the couple is defined as the intentional murder of the current or former partner, and, regarding violence in this area, it is considered the most extreme form. These homicides can involve spouses, current or no longer partners, homosexual couples, and both male and female victims (in this last case, we are talking about gender-based violence).
In a global study carried out in more than 66 countries, it was found that 13.5% of all homicides, and 38.6% of those in which the victims were women, were committed by their intimate partners.
A study in the authors’ national context, South Africa, revealed that between 1999 and 2009, approximately 50% of murder or homicide victims had been killed by their partners.
Therefore, this is a phenomenon of special relevance that we must study to improve its prevention.
There are some gaps, even today, regarding the criminal profile of the accused and the characteristics of the crime in those cases of intimate partner violence that are referred to forensic psychiatric observation.
That is, cases of intimate partner violence in which it has been considered that the perpetrator was not criminally responsible or was unimpeachable due to certain characteristics.
The objective of this study is to describe the sociodemographic, clinical and forensic profile of the accused referred to forensic psychiatric observation. In addition, authors examined the characteristics of the crimes.
The study consisted of a retrospective review of the files and registers of those accused of murder or attempted murder in the context of the couple who were admitted to a psychiatric hospital in South Africa. The data from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2018 were taken into account.
The sample included only adults of both sexes. There was a total of 145 men and 18 women. 33 of them had a previous psychiatric illness and 108 admitted using substances such as alcohol and cannabis with some frequency. In addition, 26% of the accused were previous perpetrators of gender-based violence.
Regarding the characteristics of the crime, very interesting data were obtained.
For example, most of the victims were the defendant’s current partner or spouse. Knife stabbing was the most common murder method, followed by shooting.
Most of the crimes occurred in the residence, either of the victim or of the perpetrator, existing cases in which both shared it.
69% of the accused reported not having consumed any dangerous substance at the time of the crime.
In addition, there were those who indicated motives for committing these crimes. The most common were anger, infidelity and separation.
Regarding psychiatric observation, 18% were found to have a substance use disorder; 15%, a major depressive disorder; 9% had a mood disorder; 3% had dementia and 1% had some type of mental retardation.
In general, the sample was considered to be more apt to be tried than not to be tried, as well as that there were many more defendants criminally responsible than not responsible.
Gender was also found to be a significant predictor of both aptitude for trial and criminal liability.
That is, men were more likely to be considered apt and responsible, while women were the opposite.
The presence of a psychiatric diagnosis at the time of the commission of the crime was significantly associated with these two points. Having a psychopathology such as a psychotic disorder or dementia at the time of the offense made it more likely for the defendants to be considered unfit for trial and not criminally responsible.
Furthermore, literature suggests that childhood trauma plays a very important role. Trauma can include physical and/or sexual abuse or witnessing violence. However, only 10% of the sample of this study reported having experienced childhood trauma. There is a possibility that the subjects have not reported experiencing it or that the evaluators have not inquired sufficiently about this possibility.
Like most studies, this one has limitations. One of them is that due to its very retrospective nature, the data may not always be complete and there can be inaccurate or imprecise information.
Authors point out the need to continue delving into this subject, especially in the South African context in which they find themselves, since there is very little research in it about the phenomenon.
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