Girls Who Kill

Abstract

Clinical case histories of two juvenile girl murderers are presented to explore possible causative psychodynamics and assess their congruence with a large series of boys who committed homicide.

Male and Female Juveniles Arrested for Murder

“…The literature on juvenile murderers has consisted predominantly of studies with small sample sizes of 20 cases or less (see, for example, Bailey, 1996;Britvic, Urlic, & Definis-Gojanovic, 2006;Hughes, Zagar, Busch, Grove, & Arbit, 2009;Kashani, Darby, Allan, Hartke, & Reid, 1997) and case studies (see, for example, Cornell, 1989;Davis & Dutcher, 2002;Heide & McCurdy, 2010;Malmquist, 2010;Mouridsen & Tolstrup, 1988). Several publications reported case studies of girls who killed (see, for example, Benedek & Cornell, 1989a;Ewing, 1990;Gardiner, 1985;Heide, 1992Heide, , 1999Heide & Solomon, 2009;McCarthy, 1978;Medlicott, 1955;Mukaddes & Topcu, 2006;Myers, 2004;Reinhardt,1970;Russell, 1986).…”

“…Research studies of homicide by juveniles have been primarily clinical in focus. They have focused on victim characteristics, including interfamilial victims and parricide (Corder, Ball, Haizlip, Rollins, & Beaumont, 1976;Duncan & Duncan, 1971;Evans, McGovern-Kondik, & Peric, 2005;Ewing, 1990;Heide, 1992Heide, , 1994Kalogerakis, 1971;Russell, 1986;Sargent, 1964;Wertham, 1941;Zenoff & Zeints, 1979). These studies have often identified mental health disorders (Cornell, Miller, & Benedek, 1988;Labelle, Bradford, Bourget, Jones, & Carmichael, 1991;Lewis et al, 1985;Myers & Scott, 1998;Myers, Scott, Burgess, & Burgess, 1995), substance abuse (Bailey, 1996;Cornell, Benedek, & Benedek, 1987;Fenderich, Mackesy-Amiti, Goldstein, Spunt, & Brownstein, 1995;Myers & Scott, 1998), poorer executive functioning and lower social maturity (R. J. , and severe family dysfunction and family pathology in the backgrounds of these killers (Busch, Zagar, Hughes, Arbit, & Russell, 1990;Crespi & Rigazio-DiGilio, 1996;Hill-Smith, Hugo, Hughes, Fonagy, & Hartman, 2002;R.…”

Youth Homicide: A Review of the Literature and a Blueprint for Action

“…A few publications report case studies of girls who have murdered (see, for e.g., Ewing, 1990;Gardiner, 1985;Heide, 1992;McCarthy, 1978;Medlicott, 1955;Russell, 1986). These studies reveal that girls are more likely than boys to kill family members and to use accomplices to effect these murders.…”

“…Several researchers have found significant neurological impairment or abnormalities among young killers (see, e.g., Bailey, 1996a;Bender, 1959;Busch et al, 1990;Lewis et al, 1985;Lewis, Lovely, et al, 1988;Michaels, 1961;Myers, 1994;Myers et al, 1995;Woods, 1961;Zagar, Arbit, Sylvies, Busch, & Hughes, 1990), particularly those on death row (Lewis, Pincus, et al, 1988). Others maintain that neurological difficulties are absent or rare among the juvenile murderers assessed in their studies (see, e.g., Dolan & Smith, 2001;Hellsten & Katila, 1965;Labelle et al, 1991;Petti & Davidman, 1981;Russell, 1986;Scherl & Mack, 1966;Walshe-Brennan, 1974.…”

“…With few exceptions (see, e.g., Fiddes, 1981;King, 1975), published research and case studies report that the majority of adolescent homicide offenders are raised in broken homes (Ewing, 1990; see, e.g., Darby et al, 1998;Easson & Steinhilber, 1961;Labelle et al, 1991;McCarthy, 1978;Patterson, 1943;Petti & Davidman, 1981;Rosner et al, 1978;Russell, 1986;Scherl & Mack, 1966;S. Smith, 1965;Sorrells, 1977;Woods, 1961).…”