School of Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin, Ireland.
Office of the State Pathologist, Dublin, Ireland.
J Forensic Leg Med. 2024 Oct;107:102754. doi: 10.1016/j.jflm.2024.102754. Epub 2024 Sep 13.
Femicide represents the dramatic end-point on a spectrum of violence against women and is an increasingly prevalent medico-legal issue. Whilst there is no definition of femicide in the Irish legal system, femicide can be understood as the gender based killing of women or girls. The pervasiveness of gender-based violence against women is a growing cause for concern with 2018 estimates by the World Health Organisation (WHO) revealing that 1 in 3 women have experienced Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Femicide remains poorly defined and underreported worldwide due to enduring stigmatisation, shame and a lack of official statistics addressing national femicide rates.
The aim of this study was to explore Irish cases of femicide, quantify the prevalence of femicide in Ireland and identify any emerging trends over a 12-year-period.
All homicides referred to the Office of the State Pathologist (OSP) from 2012 to 2023 were reviewed and a total of 97 cases of femicide were ?identified and included in this study.
Femicide rates increased from 1 in 5 (19 %) homicides referred to the OSP in 2012-2020 to 3 in 10 from 2021 to 2023 (29 %). Domestic femicides accounted for 74 % of cases, with 41 % of women murdered in the home they shared with their killer. 56 % of women were killed by a current or former intimate partner and 20 % by a family member. Sharp force injuries were present in 75 % of femicides associated with a history of sexual violence. These cases had the highest average number of injuries per case (n = 30) and a significantly lower average age than that of the entire cohort (19 years versus 41 years).
The true scale of gender-based violence against women remains largely hidden due to a lack of focused official statistics and a clear definition of femicide. As populations become more diverse, and displacement secondary to environmental, or humanitarian crises becomes more common, it is essential that official data is collected in order to understand and ultimately prevent gender-based violence in this vulnerable cohort.
杀害女性是针对女性暴力行为的极端表现形式，也是一个日益普遍的医学法律问题。虽然爱尔兰法律体系中没有杀害女性的定义，但可以将杀害女性或女孩的行为理解为基于性别的杀害。针对女性的暴力行为普遍存在，这引起了越来越多的关注，据世界卫生组织（WHO）2018 年的估计，每三名女性中就有一名曾遭受亲密伴侣暴力（IPV）。由于持续存在污名化、羞耻感以及缺乏针对国家杀害女性率的官方统计数据，杀害女性的行为在全球范围内仍未得到充分定义和报告。
本研究旨在探讨爱尔兰的杀害女性案件，量化爱尔兰杀害女性的发生率，并确定在 12 年期间的任何新出现趋势。
审查了 2012 年至 2023 年提交给国家病理学家办公室（OSP）的所有凶杀案，并确定了 97 例杀害女性案件，并将其纳入本研究。
杀害女性的发生率从 2012 年至 2020 年提交给 OSP 的凶杀案中的 1 例占 5 例（19%）上升到 2021 年至 2023 年的 3 例占 10 例（29%）。家庭内杀害女性的案件占 74%，其中 41%的女性在与凶手共同居住的家中被杀害。56%的女性是被现任或前任亲密伴侣杀害，20%是被家庭成员杀害。有性暴力史的杀害女性案件中，75%存在锐器伤。这些案件的平均每例受伤人数最多（n=30），平均年龄明显低于整个队列（19 岁与 41 岁）。
由于缺乏针对性别暴力的重点官方统计数据和杀害女性的明确定义，针对女性的暴力行为的真实规模在很大程度上仍未被发现。随着人口更加多样化，以及因环境或人道主义危机而导致的流离失所现象变得更加普遍，收集官方数据以了解并最终防止这一脆弱群体中的性别暴力行为至关重要。
