Lethal Violence, Childhood, and Gender in Mexico City

• DOI: 10.1177/1057567717743303
• Published date: 01 March 2019
• Date: 01 March 2019
• Author: Rodrigo Meneses-Reyes,Gustavo Fondevila
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Lethal Violence, Childhood,

and Gender in Mexico City

Gustavo Fondevila

1

and Rodrigo Meneses-Reyes

1

Abstract

This article analyzes a total of 255 interviews with inmates in Mexico City prisons, all of whom

were prosecuted for killing someone else (first-degree murder). A comparison is made between

two groups of incarcerated murderers: men and women. Our aim is to illustrate and explain how

gender interacts with other social groups in the composition of lethal violence in Mexico City, one

of the largest cities in Latin America. Research findings suggest that, in Mexico City, women are

more likely to use lethal violence against young victims, usually family members, and in closed

spaces, especially at home.

Keywords

women and violence, homicides, gender, minors (relatives)

In early 2015, the legal authorities of Mexico City arrested Brenda “N,” accused of murdering

her own daughter. The body of the girl was moved to the Forensic Service’s facilities, where the

autopsy determined that she had been asphyxiated. The authorities determined that enough evi-

dence existed to link the mother to the death, so the judge ordered her arrest on the cha rge of

intentional homicide. Later, Brenda “N” received the maximum sentence for this crime in Mexico

City (Excelsior, 2015). Initially, Brenda’s case seems like one of those unique tragedies that rarely

take place in a community. Nevertheless, Mexico finds itself among the 10 countries that account

for more than half of the child and adolescent homicide victims at an international level (United

Nations Children’s Fund [UNICEF], 2014). Where does this violence come from? How is it

structured? These are still unanswered questions.

In some cases, this trend has been interpreted as the result of economic crises, family short-

comings, and decreasing social support (Vega-Lo´pez and Gonza´ lez-Pe´rez, 2003). In other cases, this

pattern of violent interactions has been eclipsed by the intense growth homicide has experienced

throughout the Latin American region. In this article, however, another explanation is explored. We

seek to illustrate how gender, age, and family ties play a significant role in structuring different

forms of violence that do differ from the prototypical image homicide in the region: a lethal

interaction between poor young men.

1

Department of Legal Studies, Center for Research and Teaching in Economics, Mexico City, Mexico

Corresponding Author:

Gustavo Fondevila, Department of Legal Studies, Center for Research and Teaching in Economics, Carretera Me

´xico-Toluca

3655, Col. Lomas de Santa Fe, Mexico City 01210, Mexico.

Email: gustavo.fondevila@cide.edu

International CriminalJustice Review

2019, Vol. 29(1) 33-47

ª2017 Georgia State University

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/1057567717743303

journals.sagepub.com/home/icj