Tipologías de Feminicidas con Trastorno Mental en España

Unveiling the Dark Nexus: A systematic review on the interplay of mental health, substance abuse, and socio-cultural factors in femicide

A shared definition of femicide would help to distinguish it from the murder of a woman and understand its root causes favoring prevention. We conducted a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) to assess how (and if) femicide cases were related to mental disorders. Articles papers that explicitly define or discuss femicides or articles that, albeit not expressly mention femicides, thoroughly compare generic homicides and homicides with female victims. We analyse 3546 articles were retrieved from the databases, and 75 studies fulfilled the eligibility criteria and were included in the SLR. Many forms of femicide emerge worldwide as people's values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours evolve (intimate partner femicide, femicide-suicide, religious femicide, honour, revolt femicide) and state of vulnerability. A tiny percentage of femicides occur at the hands of subjects with diagnosed mental disorders, and controversies exist regarding the possible link between femicide and the use of drugs and/or alcohol and other factors. The complex problem of violence against women must be addressed with a transdisciplinary approach and targeted interventions for both the victims and the perpetrators. The present SLR shows that it is not possible to link femicides to mental disorders and that socio and cultural factors appear to be more relevant. Further quantitative research is warranted to disentangle the root causes of this heinous phenomenon plaguing our times. Our studies show that using the proposed definition of feminicide would help to delimit and adequately recognise violence in courtrooms, promote the culture of equality, and identify adequate policy strategies for prevention.

Expressiveness and Instrumentality of Crime Scene Behavior in Spanish Homicides

One of the current trends in the study of criminal profiling consists of developing theoretical and methodological typologies to offer information of operational use in police investigations. The objective of this work was to verify the validity of the instrumental/expressive model, so as to establish homicide typologies based on modus operandi relationships, characteristics of the victims, and characteristics of perpetrators. The sample consisted of 448 homicide cases registered in the database of the Homicide Revision Project of the Office of Coordination and Studies of the Spanish Secretary of State and Security. Through multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis, three expressive homicide subtypes were identified (expressive-impulsive, expressive-distancing, and expressive-family), as well as two instrumental homicide subtypes (instrumental-opportunist and instrumental-gratification). The expressive homicide typologies accounted for almost 95% of all of the studied cases, and most of the homicides occurring in Spain were found to take place between individuals who know one another (friends, family members, intimate couples/ex-couples). The findings from this study suggest that the instrumental/expressive model may be a useful framework for understanding the psychological processes underlying homicides, based on the study of relationships between the crime and aggressor characteristics, which may be very helpful in the prioritization of suspects.