The goal of this article is to enhance awareness of witchcraft-related femicides. In Ghana, stereotypes abound of elderly women as witches. In some instances, suspicions or accusations of witchcraft are followed by lethal or nonlethal assault of the supposed witch. This article examines witch beliefs in Ghana and analyzes 13 incidents of homicide committed against women accused of witchcraft during 1995 to 2001. The author presents a genderbased analysis of witchcraft accusations that contextualizes witch murders as a form of gender discrimination. The results indicate that appreciation of the social and cultural contexts, as well as the status of women in the society, is crucial in developing an understanding of witch-related femicides in Ghanaian society. Suggestions for reducing witchrelated violence in Ghana are offered.
Recently, there have been calls for the decriminalization (or depenalization) of nonfatal suicidal behavior (attempted suicide) in Ghana, India, Uganda, and other societies that currently criminalize nonfatal suicidal behavior. Despite this, there is a dearth of systematic studies that examine the extent, nature, and characteristics of attempted suicide prosecutions in countries that currently criminalize nonfatal suicidal behavior. The current study, therefore, explores the phenomenon of criminal prosecution and punishment for suicide attempters in Ghana, one among several countries where nonfatal suicidal behavior is a crime. Drawing from data extracted from local Ghanaian print and electronic news media articles, the study examines the sociodemographic characteristics of suicide attempt survivors, the patterns of nonfatal suicidal behavior, as well as the criminal justice outcomes of the criminal prosecutions. The findings indicate that the majority of defendants pled guilty to or were found guilty of the charge and sentenced to penalties ranging from monetary fines to incarceration. The results are discussed with regard to their implications for reducing nonfatal suicidal behavior in Ghana.
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