The Victims of Mentally Disordered Female Offenders

Abstract

The study of the victims of violent criminal offences and the study of female criminality are both poorly documented areas which are currently attracting a larger share of attention. Investigations into the relationship between the victim and offender and descriptions of the victims of fatal offences have appeared intermittently over the years (East, 1936; von Hentig, 1948; Wolfgang, 1957; Morris and Blom-Cooper, 1964; Gibson and Klein, 1969), but in most of these cases the information is peripheral to the main interests of the researchers and the studies are confined to victims of homicide. This report describes the victims of mentally disordered violent female offenders who were patients in the Special Hospitals, and includes victims of murder, manslaughter, attempted murder and wounding.