According to the feminist pathways perspective, women's offending behaviour is largely attributed to their experiences of victimisation at the hands of male friends and relatives. Though there is considerable research, especially in the United States where the perspective originated, women's pathways to homicide offending in Uganda are not yet known. Moreso, studies on female adult-onset offenders are lacking. Therefore, to fill the identified gap, I conducted a qualitative study with 30 women convicted of murder and investigated their pathways to homicide offending. The study was guided by phenomenological research. Face-to-face in-depth interviews were used to collect data while data analysis was done with the help of NVivo 12 software. Consistent with Western literature, this study found that victimisation was majorly responsible for the offending behaviour of women. The study identified four types of women’s pathways to homicide offending which included; the intimate partner violence-related pathway, the protecting marriages and children pathway, the financial greed pathway and, the pathway to prison due to guilt of association with criminal intimate partners. However, intimate partner violence-related pathway was responsible for the offending behaviour of most of the women (N=20). Implications of this study for policymakers and practitioners in the criminal justice system are discussed.
feminist pathways perspective, victimisation, women convicted of murder, qualitative study, phenomenology, Uganda
Archambault, C. S. & Zoomers, A. (2015). Global trends in land reform. Gender impacts. New York, Routledge.
Artz, L., Hoffman-Wanderer, Y. & Moult, K. (2012). Hard time(s): Women’s pathways to crime and incarceration. Cape Town, University of Cape Town.
Artz, L. & Rotmann, B. (2015). Taking a count of women in prison. Agenda, 29(4), 3-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/10130950.2015.1129091
Bagala, A. (2016). Jealousy drives woman to kill co-wife. Daily Monitor, Kampala, Uganda.
Becker, P., Miller, S. L. & Iovanni, L. (2024). Pathways to resistance: Theorizing trauma and women’s use of force in intimate relationships. Violence Against Women, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012241233000
Becker, S. & McCorkel, J. A. (2011). The gender of criminal opportunity. The impact of male co-offenders on women’s crime. Feminist Criminology, 6(2), 79-110 https://doi.org/10.1177/1557085110396501
Belknap, J. (2014). The invisible woman. Gender, crime and justice. 4th edition. Stamford: CT. Wadsworth Publishing
Brennan, T., Breitenbach, M., Dieterich, W., Salisbury, E., & Van Voorhis, P. (2012). Women’s pathways to serious and habitual crime: A-person-centered analysis incorporating gender-responsive factors. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 39 (11), 1481-1508.
Bukuluki, P., Kisaakye, P., Bulenzi-Gulere, G., Mulindwa, B., Bazira, D., Letiyo, E., Namirembe, H. N. L et al., (2023). Vulnerability to violence against women or girls during COVID-19 in Uganda. BMC Public Health, 23(33), 2-10 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-14951-7
Carrington, K., Hogg, R. & Sozzo, M. (2016). Southern criminology. British Journal of Criminology, 56 (1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azv083
Colagrossi, M., Deiana, C., Dragone, D., Geraci, A., Giua, L. & Iori, E. (2023). Intimate partner violence and help-seeking: The role of femicide news. Journal of Health Economics, 87, 1-22.
Creswell, J. W. & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design. Choosing among five approaches. Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications Ltd.
Cruz, B., Lukić, N. & Strand, S. (2023). Gender Perspective of Victimization, Crime and Penal Policy. In: Vujadinović, D. & Fröhlich, M., Giegerich, T. (eds) Gender-Competent Legal Education. Springer Textbooks in Law. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14360-1_14
Daly, K. (1992). Women’s pathways to felony court: Feminist theories of law-breaking and problems of representation. Southern California Review of Law and Women’s Studies, 2 (1), 11-52.
DeHart, D. D. (2008). Pathways to prison: Impact of victimisation in the lives of incarcerated women. Violence Against Women, 14(12), 1362-1381. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012083270
DeHart, D. D. (2018). Women’s pathways to crime. A heuristic typology of offenders. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 45(10), 1461-1482. https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548187825
Dieterle, C. (2021). Global governance meets local land tenure: international codes of conduct for responsible land investments in Uganda. The Journal of Development Studies, 3 (58), 582-598. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2021.1983165
Enander, V., Krantz, G., Lövestad, S. & Örmon, K. (2021) The killing and thereafter: Intimate partner homicides in a process perspective, part II, Journal of Gender-Based Violence, 6(3): 501–517. https://doi.org/10.1332/239868021X16317122802413
Estrellado, A. F. & Loh, J. M. (2019). To stay in or leave an abusive relationship: Losses and gains experienced by battered Filipino women. Journal of International Violence, 34 (9), 1843-1863. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260516657912
Fofana, F., Bazeley, P. & Regnault, A. (2020). Applying a mixed methods design to test saturation for qualitative data in health outcomes research. PLoS One, 15(6), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234898
Fox, M. H. (2018). Women and wrongful conviction. How? who? why? In Sharp, S. F., Marcus-Mendoza, S., Cameron, K. A & Daniel-Roberson, E. S. (Eds), Across the spectrum of women and crime. Theories, offending and the criminal justice system (pp. 163-178). Durham, North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press.
Freiburger, T. L. (2016). Violent women. In Freiburger, T. L. & Marcum, C. D. (Eds), Women in the criminal justice system. Tracking the journey of female and crime, New York, Taylor and Francis, CRS Press, pp. 117-135.
Gaarder, E. & Belknap, J. (2004). Little women: Girls in adult prison. Women and Criminal Justice, 15 (2), 51- 80. https://doi.org/10.1300/J012v15n02_03
Gehring, K. S. (2018). A direct test of pathways theory. Feminist Criminology, 13 (2), 115–137. https://doi.org/10.1177/15570851166461
Gunnison, E. & McCartan, L. M. (2010). Persistent versus late onset among female offenders: A test of state dependent and population heterogeneity interpretations. Western Criminology Review, 11(3), 45- 62.
Hesselink, A. & Dastile, P. (2015). A criminological assessment on South African women who murdered their intimate male partners. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 25(4), 335-344. https://doi.org/10.1080/14330237.2015.1078091
Hillis, S. D., Anda, R. F., Felitti, V. J. & Marchbanks, P. A. (2001). Adverse childhood experiences and sexual risk behaviors in women: A retrospective cohort study. Family Planning Perspectives, 33 (5), 206 – 211. https://doi.org/10.2307/2673783
Holtfreter, K., Pusch, N. & Golladay, K. A. (2022). Evolution, evidence, and impact of the feminist pathways perspective. In The Wiley Handbook on What Works with Girls and Women in Conflict with the Law: A Critical Review of Theory, Practice, and Policy (pp. 13-23). Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119874898.ch1
Hourigan, R. M. & Edgar, S. N. (2020). The foundations of phenomenology: Epistemology, methodology, and analysis in Approaches to Qualitative Research: An Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research in American Music Education, 1, 110.
Jeffries, S. & Chuenurah, C. (2018). Pathways to prison in Cambodia for homicide offending. South East Asia Research, 6 (2), 109- 113. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967828X18769223
Jeffries, S., Chuenurah, C., Raob. P. & Park, M. J. Y. (2019). Women’s pathways to prison in Kenya: Violence, poverty, familial caretaking and barriers to justice. Women’s Studies International Forum, 73, 50- 61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2019.02.003
Kabahinda, J. (2017). Culture and women’s land rights on the ground in Uganda. Development in Practice, 27(6), 828-838 https://doi.org/10.1080/09614524.2017.1343801
Kameri-Mbote, P. (2005). The land has its owners! Gender issues in land tenure under customary law in Kenya. Working Paper 9, Nairobi, International Environmental Law Resource Centre.
Leote de Carvalho, M.J., Duarte, V. & Gomes, S. (2023). Female crime and delinquency: A kaleidoscope of changes at the intersection of gender and age. Women and Criminal Justice, 33 (4), 280-301. https://doi.org/10.1080/08974454.2021.1985044
Maghsoudi, A, Anaraki, N. R. & Boostani, D. (2018). Patriarchy as a contextual and gendered pathway to crime: A qualitative study of Iranian women offenders. Quality and Quantity, 52(1), 355-370. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-017-0470-2
Marshal, C. & Rossman, G. B. (2016). Designing qualitative research. London, New Delhi, Sage Publications.
Matias, A., Gonçalves, M., Soeiro, C., & Matos, M. (2020). Intimate partner homicide: A meta-analysis of risk factors. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 50, 101358.
Milliam, K. (2019). Physical violence against women in Uganda: The experience of 30 female prisoners convicted of murder. International Multidisciplinary Research Journal – Gender and Women’s Studies, 1(1), 38-44.
Moffitt, T. E. (1993). Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behaviour: A developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100 (4), 674-701. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.100.4.674
Neema, S., Muhumuza, C., Nakigudde, R., Uldbjerg, C. S., Tagoola, F. M. & Muhwez, E. (2021). Trading daughters for livestock: An ethnographic study of facilitators of child marriage in Lira district, Northern Uganda. African Journal of Reproductive Health, 25 (3), 83-93. https://doi.org/10.29063/ajrh2021/v25i3
New Vision, (2023). Poor law implementation failing justice for sexual violence. Kampala, Uganda https://www.newvision.co.ug/category/news/poor-law-implementation-failing-justice-for-s-NV_166848
Nuytiens, A. & Christiaens, J. (2012). Female offenders’ pathways to prison in Belgium. Temida, 15 (4), 7-22. https://doi.org/10.2298/TEM1204007N
Nuytiens, A. & Christiaens, J. (2016). Female pathways to crime and prison: Challenging the (US) gendered pathways perspective. European Journal of Criminology, 13 (2), 195-213. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370815608879
Owen, B., Wells, J. & Pollock, J. (2017). In search of safety: Confronting inequality in women’s imprisonment. Oakland: University of California Press.
Palinkas, L. A., Horwitz, S. M., Green, C. A., Wisdom, J. P., Duan, N., & Hoagwood, K. (2015). Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method implementation research. Administration and Policy Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 42 (5), 533-544. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-013-0528-y
Peel, D. (2023). Domestic violence and the death penalty in Uganda. https://blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/death-penalty-research-unit-blog/blog-post/2023/01/domestic-violence-and-death-penalty-uganda\
Pelvin, H. (2019). The normal woman who kills: Representations of women’s intimate partners homicide. Feminist Criminology, 14 (3), 349-370.
Potter, H. (2015). Intersectionality and criminology: Disrupting and revolutionizing studies of crime. New York, NY, Routledge.
Rugadya, M. (2010). Women’s land rights in Uganda: Status of implementation of policy and law on women’s land rights for ECA, ACGS Addis Ababa. Maastricht University.
Scott, S., Geffner, R., Stolberg, R. & Sirikantraporn, S. (2023). Common characteristics of women who kill in the context of abuse: a content analysis of case files. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma, 32 (1-2), 15-33.
Siegel, J. A. & Williams, M. (2003). The relationship between child sexual abuse and female delinquency and crime: A prospective study. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 40 (1), 71-94. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022427802239254
Spencer, C .M & Stith, S.M. (2020). Risk factors for male perpetration and female victimization of intimate partner homicide. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 21(3) 527-540. https://doi.org/10.1177/152483801878110
Ssemogerere, G. N. (2011). Cultural and social situation of the family today an African perspective with particular reference to Uganda (Anthropological, legislative and political aspects). Round table presentation to the 20th plenary assembly of the pontifical council for the family Rome, Italy 9th November – 1st December 2011.
Stanojoska, A. (2023). The feminist pathways perspective: The pathways to crime of female murderers in the Republic of North Macedonia. In Stanojoska, A., Dimovski, D. & Maksimova, E. (eds) The Handbook on Female Criminality in the Former Yugoslav Countries. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27628-6_4
Stevens, D. J. (1999). Interviews with women convicted of murder: Battered women syndrome revisited. International Review of Victimology, 6, 117-135.
Theeuwen, A., Duplat, V., Wickert, C. & Tjemkes, B. (2021). How do women overcome gender inequality by forming small-scale cooperatives? The case of the agricultural sector in Uganda. Sustainability, 13 (4), 1-2. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13041797
Tibatemwa-Ekirikubinza, L. (1995). Women’s violent crime in Uganda. More sinned against than sinning. Kampala, Fountain Publishers.
Uganda Bureau of Statistics. (2019). Statistical abstract. Kampala, Uganda.
Uganda Bureau of Statistics. & ICF. (2017). Uganda demographic and health survey 2016: key indicators report. Kampala, Uganda, UBOS and Rockville, Maryland, USA, UBOS and ICF.
Ventura, M., Di Napoli, A., Petrelli, A., Pappagallo, M., Concetta Mirisola, C. & Frova, L. (2022). Male and female differences in homicide mortality. Results of an Italian longitudinal study, 2012-2018 Frontiers in Public Health, 10(9),1-9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.919335
Voce, I. & Bricknell, S. (2020). Female perpetrated intimate partner homicide: Indigenous and non-indigenous offenders. Statistical Report: Australian Institute of Criminology, https://aic.gov.au/publications/sr/sr20
Walker, L. E., Temares, A. E., Diaz, B. N. & Shapiro, D. L. (2023). women who kill, intimate partner violence, and forensic psychology. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma, 32 (1-2), 3-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926771.2023.2166440
Wattanaporn, K. & Holtfreter, K. (2014). The impact of feminist pathways research on gender-responsive policy and practice. Feminist Criminology, 9 (3), 191-207. https://doi.org/10.1177/15570851135194
Yang, H.Y., Yang, J. E. & Shin, Y. S. (2022). A phenomenological study of nurses’ experience in caring for COVID-19 patients. International Journal Environmental Research and Public Health, 219 (5), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052924
Yeo, A., Legard, R., Keegan, J., Ward, K., Nicholls, C. M. & Lewis, J. (2014). In-depth interviews. In Ritchie, J., Lewis, J., Nicholls, C. M. & Ormston, R (Eds), Qualitative research practice. A guide for social science students and researchers. London, Sage Publications Ltd, pp.178-210.
Milliam Kiconco. Lecturer, Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Population Studies, Kyambogo University, P.O. Box 1, Kampala, Uganda. Contacts: mkiconco@kyu.ac.ug, +256784389936
Cite this article:
Kiconco, M. (2024). Women’s pathways to homicide offending in Uganda. International Review of Social Sciences Research, 4(3), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.53378/irssr.353076
License:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) International License.