Conviction rates for homicide by partner / ex partner

[Grumpla]

Can anyone point me in the direction of some recent UK stats on the discrepancy between women sentenced for killing their partners / ex-partners and men sentenced for the same. DH and I are having a humdinger of a row about it. Lots of the sites I've found focus on individual cases and campaigns - is there a summary?

Thinking about it further perhaps the sample sizes are too small to draw a meaningful conclusion from - 90 odd vs 20 odd a year.

But would be interested to read more on the subject if anyone has any interesting links etc.

Not sure about conviction rates but in 2008/2009 31 men and 101 women were murdered by partner/ex partner. Figures are from mankind.org.uk who use the figures from the home office. Some really disturbing figures on there if you dig deep enough.

Those figures will be convicted murderers, I would have thought, as opposed to those merely charged with murder (but found not guilty).

By definition, there must be some out there who get away with it - if you can make it look like suicide or an accident, you'll get away with murder, but it is extremely hard to do and I imagine, vanishingly rare.

Not sure about sentencing and what would also be of interest, is how the breakdown divides with regard to murder and manslaughter (I wonder if there is any significant difference as to whether you're charged with murder or manslaughter?)

Sorry not to be able to help - maybe someone else will be able to point you to something useful.

Try the Parity website.

One possibility is to contact Justice for Women. There isn't alot of content on their site itself, but they may have the information or be able to point you in the right direction.

Part of the answer can be gleaned from the January 2012 British Crime Survey Supplementary Report: K (ed.), Osborne, S, Lau, I and Britton, A. (2012) Homicides, Firearm Offences and Intimate Violence 2010/11: Supplementary Volume 2 to Crime in England and Wales 2010/11. London: Home Office.

On page 16, it give this definition - "The term 'homicide' covers the offences of murder, manslaughter and infanticide. Murder and manslaughter are common law offences that have never been defined by statute, although they have been modified by statute."

In 2010/11, 435 homicide victims were male and 201 were female. There were increases in both the number of male victims (up 5% from 413) and the number of female victims (up 3% from 195). (Page 18)

Over half (52%) of female victims aged 16 or over had been killed by their partner, ex-partner or lover (93 offences), This is similar to previous years with the proportion of female victims killed by a partner or ex-partner having fluctuated between 41 and 57 per cent over the last decade (between 80 and 117 homicides per year). In contrast, only five per cent of male victims aged 16 or over were killed by their partner, ex-partner or lover in 2010/11 (21 offences) (page 21)

Now, this report includes tables showing the proportion of males charged with murder or manslaughter that were acquitted and those convicted, and a similar table for women. What isn't in the report, but must be SOMEWHERE is the proportion of men convicted for killing a partner vs the proportion of women convicted for killing a partner. Anyone know how to get extra info out of the Home Office?

Sigmunda, why not go whole hog and recommend the UK Men's Movement website ffs.

Wow. Now I've read the first few lines excellent unbiased content of that Parity website in its entirety I've decided that it's all a lefty bra-burning feminist conspiracy oh no I haven't ...

Thanks for your pointers KRITIQ

I kind of guessed Parity might be a MRA site, so didn't bother to link.

Thanks.Hadn't heard of the Parity website.Interesting.