Non-Intimate Femicide in England and Wales: The Knowns and the Unknowns

• In Event: Lethal Inequalities: Understanding the Structural Predictors, Gendered Patterns, and Life Lost to Violence

Abstract

This presentation focuses on the killing of women and girls outside of family and intimate relationships, referred to here as ‘non-intimate femicide’ (NIF). Despite substantial proportions of femicides across the globe involving women killed in non-intimate circumstances, there is a dearth of evidence, research and policy on NIF, which has important implications for prevention strategies and ascertaining gender-related motivations. This paper presents findings from a research project examining NIF, including a scoping review focusing on how NIF is defined and operationalised in international literature, and analysis of national Homicide Index (HI) data for England and Wales (2002-2022). The findings from the HI data analysis provide original insight into the victim, perpetrator and incident characteristics in NIF cases, and reveal the heterogeneity of NIF, alongside significant differences between intimate and non-intimate femicide. We argue that there is an urgent need to more accurately record non-intimate femicide, in order to fully understand the contexts and motivations of all killings of women and girls, and inform evidence-based prevention strategies.

Authors

• Caroline Miles, University of Manchester

• Elizabeth Cook, City University of London