Since 2009, almost 2,000 women in Great Britain have been victims of femicide. Many of the femicides could have been prevented. The problem: The term femicide is not known in British jurisprudence.
Once a year, on International Women’s Day in March, everything becomes completely quiet in the otherwise noisy British House of Commons in London. Then Labor MP Jess Phillips reads the names of everyone killed by men in the kingdom last year Women before. This usually takes more than five minutes and the list is always around 100 names long.
This year it featured, among others, 59-year-old Jane Collinsonwho was murdered by her neighbor with a bread knife on March 4th in Barnard Castle in northern England, and Charlotte, who was attacked on the same day in Blackburn by a man she did not know and who had multiple convictions Wilcock, 31. The man killed her with more than 50 stab wounds. Or Emma Pattison45, headmaster of a renowned private school, who was killed by her husband on February 5th in their shared house in southern England Epsom was shot, along with her eight-year-old daughter Lettie.
Karen has been collecting the names of the women killed since 2013 Ingala Smith and publishes them on her blog “Counting Dead Women” – “Dead women count”. Together with the lawyer Clarissa O’Callaghan she founded in 2015 “FemicideCensus“, a project that documents all cases in which a Woman died as a result of an act of violence committed by a man or men. The platform is important “because the word ‘femicide’ does not yet exist in British jurisprudence,” says O’Callaghan. “There is a lack of political will here.”
Femicides are often referred to as “homicide” or “extended suicide.”
Because British judges and lawyers do not use the term femicide, the significant number of killings of women by men in the Kingdom is lost in general homicide statistics. “The cases are then, for example, manslaughter because the perpetrator was able to successfully argue in court that he was suffering from depression at the time of the crime or was under the influence of alcohol or drugs and was therefore ‘temporarily incompetent’,” says O’Callaghan.
There are a striking number of such cases, she adds. Other Femicideslike Emma’s Pattison and her daughter, disappeared into the “murder-suicide” statistics because Pattison’s Husband took his life shortly after the double murder. By the way, it is not uncommon. “In around 20 percent of all femicides, the perpetrators commit suicide immediately after the crime.”
Many femicides could be prevented
Why do the British find it so difficult to name a phenomenon? the Countries like Spain or France have long recognized? “The Spaniards are following the example of Mexico and other Central American countries, where the number of femicides is known to be particularly high and the clearance rate is low.” The British had a different problem. “In cases of the killing of women – with very few exceptions – the perpetrator is quickly found and convicted. The otherwise overwhelmed British legal apparatus works very well.”
The problem is that many femicides could be prevented if the police and authorities took the warning signs seriously in good time. Reports of stalking or domestic violence are not responded to early enough and sometimes not at all, but the numbers speak for themselves. “In at least 50 percent of all femicides, the perpetrators have a corresponding violent history.”
The project “FemicideCensus” documents all known cases of femicide since 2009 – “this year we will reach the number of 2000”. The small organization not only collects the numbers themselves, but also examines socio-economic characteristics – “a striking number of perpetrators are either economic “inactive or retired” – regional clusters or other contexts according to which O’Callaghan searched in vain when she was still a lawyer representing relatives of murder victims. “That’s why we founded the organization.” Her former law firm Freshfields continues to support the project today Bono.
Women are particularly at risk if they try to end an abusive or violent relationship, says O’Callaghan. This also explains why the otherwise constant femicide statistics fell slightly during the pandemic, while those of domestic violence increased. “Because of the strict lockdown laws, it was virtually impossible to escape a toxic relationship.” The numbers are now back where they always were: on average, people die every third day Great Britain a woman by the violence of a man. The British are not pioneers – Germany and France report similar figures.
Enshrining the term “femicide” in British law is an important, but only the first step towards the real goal of “FemicideCensus“: preventing the murder of women. “It is sad that in Britain a dead woman receives more justice than a living victim of violence.”
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
