Choice of Homicide Weapons: Exploring Criminal Patterns in Homicides and Murders in Spain

• In Event: Homicide & Murder in Spain: New Evidence and Perspectives

Abstract

The scientific literature has pointed to the importance of murder weapons in providing relevant information on the type of homicides or murders that have occurred concerning relationship type, gender, power dynamics, etc. The aim of this research is to analyse the role of the murder weapon in the production of murders or homicides in Spain. The study is based on a jurisprudential review of the sentences issued by the High Court of Justice. This study analyses the incidence of the various murder weapons used, their interrelation with the gender of the victim and the perpetrator, their variability according to a greater or lesser affective relationship between the parties and how this guarantees greater harm and integrity of the murderer in their use. The final purpose is to determine whether the information extracted from the sentences on the function of the murder weapon can be useful to establish associations between different variables involved in these criminal typologies, generating homicide profiles that facilitate their investigation.

Author

• NOELIA VALENZUELA GARCIA, 1Department of International Public, Procedural and Criminal Law, University of Cádiz, Spain