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Gender, intimate partner homicide, and rurality in early-twentieth-century New South Wales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 November 2022

Carolyn Strange Open the ORCID record for Carolyn Strange [Opens in a new window] ,
Collin Payne Open the ORCID record for Collin Payne [Opens in a new window]  and
Fiona Fraser Open the ORCID record for Fiona Fraser [Opens in a new window]
Carolyn Strange*
Affiliation:
Australian National University
Collin Payne
Affiliation:
Australian National University
Fiona Fraser
Affiliation:
Australian National University
*
*Corresponding author: Email: carolyn.strange@anu.edu.au
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Abstract

Rural criminological literature on lethal domestic violence and feminist historical research on the patriarchal judgment of women accused of killing male intimate partners (IPs) have developed a dystopic image of the past for nonurban women. This paper questions that impression by asking whether women were more likely than men to be convicted of IP murder, and whether rural women were treated more harshly than urban women. Through quantitative analysis of 221 IP murder trials in New South Wales, 1901–1955, plus four representative case studies, it reveals that women tried for IP murders in rural areas were treated more leniently than their urban counterparts and significantly less harshly than male perpetrators of IP homicide. This paper demonstrates how historical criminological analysis of illustrative qualitative evidence, grounded in quantitative data on locational distinctions, can expose significant variations over time and place in the fate of abused women prosecuted for IP homicide.

Keywords

homicidegenderdomestic violenceintimate partners
Type
Research Article
Information
Social Science History , Volume 46 , Issue 4 , Winter 2022 , pp. 777 - 800
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Social Science History Association

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References

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