Women as Victims and Offenders: Incarcerated for Murder in the Australian Criminal Justice System _______________________________________ Kathryn M. Whiteley Queensland University of Technology Faculty of Law School of Justice Brisbane Queensland, Australia 2012 I Declaration The work contained in my study has not been previously submitted to meet requirements for an award at this or any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, this dissertation contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made. Signature QUT Verified Signature 0 t/()7/(201(;(, Date II Acknowledgements There are numerous colleagues I gratefully acknowledge for their encouragement, support, and friendship throughout the process of my research. First, immense thanks to Dr. Belinda Carpenter for her kindness, insight, and patience provided in this long and challenging journey! I also extend my gratitude to the management and staff at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in Melbourne, Australia, for their consistent on-site assistance. To Gracie, Natalie, Jennifer, Edwina, Deb, and Red, my dearest Australian friends and New Zealand extended family, I’ll never forget the love, discussions, laughter and sometimes tears we shared which will always hold a special place in my heart. For the past four and a half years, I have called Pennsylvania, my home in the USA, where I have been befriended by so many wonderful women, namely my “sisters.” Thanks to all of you for your unsurpassed love and support. James, thanks mate! I would be remiss in forgetting to mention “Max” the Wonder Dog for his companionship. What a great listener! Finally, I acknowledge the Australian women offenders who allowed me to work with them and those women in the Pennsylvania prison system in the United States, with whom I simply state: “You have all inspired me!” III Dedication I have been very blessed due to the love, support, and encouragement of so many extraordinary people whom I have come to know and embrace as part of my life’s journey. For them, I am grateful. First, my heartfelt thanks to my father Maurice James and to Daphne my darling mum, I love you. Sincere thanks to my brother Peter, for his untiring support and encouragement. I love you and wish every woman had an older brother as special as you. Finally, but certainly not least, this research lead me to a far off place where I met and married my soul mate William. Thank you, for just “being you!” My study is dedicated to the seven women who are permanently etched into my heart ─ Bella, Claire, Jean, Jennifer, Lil, Sarah, and Wendy. My mind frequently returns to our hours spent together communicating in a tiny and barren office, where everyone so willingly shared their stories complete with the joys and sorrows. As I have wrestled with my study over the past few years, I am reminded that some may now be released and others are soon to be. I often wonder how each of you are doing and what the future holds in store. My utmost desire is that I was true to your stories, and I earnestly trust that I also left my thumbprint upon your hearts. IV Someone* Someone that is always in your mind At the good and the bad times Someone who cheers you up When you’re feeling sad Someone who is proud of you No matter what you do Someone that tries their best and Doesn’t turn their back on you Someone I love more than words can say Someone more precious than the hours of the day It is my mummy and daddy who I love More and more each and every day * Written by the daughter of one of the women. V Abstract This study was undertaken in an effort to contribute to the limited knowledge of women who commit murder. Women account for approximately 10% of the total Australian homicides and according to Mouzos (2000), 20% of these female perpetrated homicides result in murder convictions. In her extensive study of female homicide offending in England, Brookman (2005) asserts that nearly two thirds of the victims of women who kill are intimates, to include violent partners and their own children. The other third of the victims consist largely of acquaintances and to lesser degree strangers (Brookman, 2005). This study strives to introduce further knowledge regarding women convicted of murder; the smaller subgroup of female homicide offenders of which less is known. It is comprised of women who killed intimates and non-intimates to include acquaintances. The study engages the narratives of seven women, all of whom were convicted of murder and serving lengthy sentences at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, a medium and maximum security prison that is located on the outskirts of Melbourne, Australia. The seven women fall largely outside of the characteristics of female homicide offenders as revealed in the studies from Australia’s National Homicide Monitoring Program (NHMP, 2007), from Canada by Hoffmann, Lavigne, and Dickie (1998) and research from the United States by Scott and Davies (2002). In this study there were no Indigenous women represented. Only one of the women had a previous criminal charge. The women were older on average than the prevailing demographics from western nations. Two of the women had substance abuse and co-occurring mental illness, which reflects a significant lower rate than the literature suggests. This study expands the current understanding of the phenomenon of women who murder. It communicates the narratives of seven women charged and convicted of murder as they attempt to understand their lives and identities. It moves the dialogue beyond the VI preponderance of feminist criminological research that examines motive and the relationship the woman has with her victim to the social discourses which dominate in her identity formation. This research found that in their attempt to create a favourable identity the women needed to engage with the master script of normative femininity through the feminisation of victimisation, motherhood and domesticity. VII Table of Contents Declaration.......................................................................................................................... I Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... II Dedication ........................................................................................................................ III Poem……………………………………………………………………………………..IV Abstract ............................................................................................................................. V Table of Contents .......................................................................................................... VII Chapter One: Introduction…………………………………………………………….12 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 12 1.2 Why Study Women Who Kill? .............................................................................. 12 1.3 What Feminist Criminological Research Reveals: Women Who Kill................... 13 1.3.1 The Demographics and Characteristics of Women Who Kill .. …………13 1.3.2 Women Tend to Kill Intimates: Most Offenses Occur within the Home. .15 1.3.3 Pathology and the Women Who Kill ........................................................ 16 1.4 Turning the Page: Notions of Agency or Volition ................................................. 17 1.5 Feminist Criminological Inquiry and Narratives of Women Who Kill ................. 18 1.6 Identity Formation ................................................................................................. 19 1.7 Methodology and Methods .................................................................................... 19 1.8 Organisation of the Thesis ..................................................................................... 20 Chapter Two: Review of the Literature........................................................................ 25 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 25 2.2 The Feminist Criminological Endeavour ............................................................... 25 2.3 The Known: Demographics and Characteristics of Women Who Kill and Their Victims………………………………………………………………………………….. 26 2.3.1 Who Are Women Who Kill? ...................................................................... 27 2.3.2 Who Women Kill ........................................................................................ 28 2.4 Explanations for the Phenomenon of the Woman Who Kills ................................ 34 2.4.1 Bad and Evil ................................................................................................ 35 2.5 Victimisation .......................................................................................................... 36 2.5.1 Pathways to Crime Theory.......................................................................... 36 2.6 Pathology and Women Who Kill ........................................................................... 38 2.6.1 Domestic Violence and Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS) ..................... 38 2.6.2 Mental Illness: The Pathology and Mad Discourse .................................... 40 2.6.3 The Influence of Substance Abuse ............................................................. 43 2.6.4 Agency, Willingness, or Volition ............................................................... 47 VIII 2.7 Narratives of