Does the Victim–Offender Relationship Matter? Exploring the Sentencing of Female Homicide Offenders

• Author: Jurg Gerber,Bitna Kim,Yeonghee Kim
• Date: 01 March 2018
• DOI: 10.1177/0306624X16667573
• Published date: 01 March 2018
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X16667573

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2018, Vol. 62(4) 898 –914

© The Author(s) 2016

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DOI: 10.1177/0306624X16667573

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Article

Does the Victim–Offender

Relationship Matter?

Exploring the Sentencing of

Female Homicide Offenders

Bitna Kim1, Jurg Gerber2, and Yeonghee Kim3

Abstract

Empirical research pertaining to sentencing of homicide offenders has been restricted

almost exclusively to samples of male offenders in the United States. To fill this void in

international research and to explore questions regarding the treatment of female homicide

offenders further, we examined the extent to which victim–offender relationships and

motives independently affect the length of sentences imposed by analyzing a nationally

representative sample of female offenders adjudicated guilty of homicide in South Korea,

over the period 1986-2013. In contrast to previous studies conducted in Canada, the

Netherlands, and the United States, the current study found that the victim–offender

relationship has no affect on sentence lengths. Rather, the most significant predictor for

the sentence lengths of the female homicide offenders was the motive for killing. We

discuss future directions for international comparative research on the roles of victim–

offender relationships and motives in sentencing outcomes of female offenders.

Keywords

female homicide offenders, sentencing, victim–offender relationships, motives, South

Korea

Introduction

There is ample evidence that the victim–offender relationship has direct, conditional,

and context-specific effects on charging and sentencing decisions (Dawson, 2004,

2012; Miethe, 1987). Although recent commentary has noted that the nature of the

1Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA

2Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX, USA

3Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, South Korea

Corresponding Author:

Bitna Kim, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana,

PA 15705, USA.

Email: bitna.kim@iup.edu

667573IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X16667573International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyKim et al.

research-article2016

Kim et al. 899

offender–victim relationship represents a key element of the punishment process of

homicide cases (Johnson, Wingerden, & Nieuwbeerta, 2010), prior research did not

allow for any definitive statement regarding the extent to which those relationships

may affect the sentencing severity of homicide offenders. Several studies on sentenc-

ing of homicide offenders have been published, but only a few studies examined the

victim–offender relationship as the main variable (Dawson, 2004, 2012). Although

most of the studies are limited to the United States, the results of the few international

studies (e.g., Dawson’s, 2004, 2012, in Canada, and Johnson et al.’s, 2010, study of the

Netherlands) are inconsistent with what has been found in the United States. Thus, one

new frontier of international sentencing research involves exploration of whether such

relationships contribute to the sentencing severity of homicide offenders in other

countries.

The current study focuses on female homicide defendants, as previous works have

used male-majority or male-only samples (Auerhahn, 2007a, 2007b). According to

previous research, judges use sex-based reasoning in sentencing (Daly, 1989) and con-

sequently, the predictors of sentence severity are found to differ by sex (Crew, 1991;

Freiburger, 2011; Kruttschnitt, 1981, 1982, 1984). Therefore, it is important to con-

struct a separate multivariate model for female offenders in sentencing research (Crew,

1991). The stereotypes surrounding the victim–offender relationship which are

believed to influence judges’ perception of defendant culpability (i.e., “crime of pas-

sion,” with violence between intimates, and “for gain,” with violence between strang-

ers) are contradicted by recent research findings on motives of women’s lethal

violence. According to recent studies, women often killed other than intimate partners

and when they killed intimate partners, their motivations varied, including sexual jeal-

ousy and ownership motives (Adinkrah, 1999, 2000, 2007; Belknap, Larson, Abrams,

Garcia, & Anderson-Block, 2012; Kim & Titterington, 2009; Kim, Titterington, Kim,

& Wells, 2010).

Owing to the limited international research on the effect of the victim–offender

relationship in the sentencing of female-perpetrated homicides, more research is

needed to explore whether, and to what extent, the relationship affects the sentencing

disparity in other countries. To fill this void in international research and to explore

questions regarding the treatment of female homicide offenders further, this study

used data on female offenders convicted of homicide in South Korea. Specifically, this

study explores whether sentencing lengths for female homicide offenders are different

according to the victim–offender relationship and motives after controlling for legal

and extra-legal factors. Results address the call for international sentencing research to

validate Western criminologists’ accumulated work on the roles of victim–offender

relationships and motivation (Hsu & Wu, 2011).

We briefly review the pertinent empirical literature on the role of victim–offender

relationships in homicide sentencing. Thereafter, we present our research questions

building on previous research, a description of the methodology used in the current

study, and results of the analytic models. Finally, we discuss implications for interna-

tional research on sentencing outcomes of female offenders.