Femicides in Germany - An empirical-criminological study on the killing of women

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Tillmann Bartsch; Professorin Dr. Deborah F. Hellmann; Professor Dr. Jörg Kinzig
• Subject Area: Criminology
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 495533432

The aim of the research project is to investigate femicides in Germany. In the present project, femicides are referred to as acts that are based on misogyny or general contempt for women, as well as acts that are motivated by the perpetrators' view that the female victim does not comply with socially determined gender roles and behaviors, and/or does not correspond to the socially prescribed gender characteristics. Regarding the current state of research, the phenomenon of femicide has evidently yet not been sufficiently researched in Germany. Even fundamental findings, such as how frequently and to what extent (i.e., various forms and manifestations) this phenomenon occurs in Germany, are still missing. The present study aims at remedying these shortcomings in order to provide a solid empirical foundation for current debates on femicide.As a primary aim, the study intends to provide a current overview of the quantitative scope of gender-motivated homicides against women in Germany. Additionally, the identification of different crime constellations, backgrounds, and types of gender-motivated killings is targeted. Finally, the judicial proceedings related to gender-motivated homicides with female victims are examined.Methodologically, the study aims at investigating femicides in Germany by means of a criminal case file analysis relating to recorded female homicides in four federal states. The inclusion criteria relate to criminal case files of (attempted) homicide or bodily harm resulting in death (Sections 211, 212, 213, 227, possibly 22, 23 StGB) with female victims in four federal states (i.e., Baden-Württemberg, Berlin, Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate), which were recorded in the German Police Crime Statistics (i.e., PKS) in 2017. A qualitative content analysis of criminal case files that contain potential instances of femicide thus forms the empirical core of the proposed study. A partially standardized analytic grid forms the basis of a systematisation of the different case constellations. Case comparisons, contrasts, and case type formations are hereby used to facilitate the establishment of femicide as a research topic. In order to account for the validity issue of case file selectivity and to optimize the data collection instruments, the study also includes interviews with experts from the police, department of public prosecution, judiciary, as well as victims’ and women’s associations.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants