The dictionary defines femicide as the killing of a woman because she is a woman. But how do you actually establish that? "You’re in very subjective territory", says Laurie Ritzen, a researcher at the Faculty of Law. “Take a case where a man stabs a woman in the street and gives no explanation. You can’t know whether he acted simply because a woman happened to walk by at that moment. Would he have stabbed a man as well? The motive isn’t always clear.”
The United Nations uses stricter criteria. Any killing or attempted killing of a woman by her partner or a family member is classified as femicide. If the perpetrator is someone else known to the victim – such as a neighbour or an acquaintance – or a stranger, there must also be a gender-related characteristic such as a history of psychological or sexual abuse of the victim, exploitation or captivity.
Varied answers
To many people, this may seem clear-cut. But it’s not quite so straightforward in Dutch legal practice, as Ritzen and her fellow researchers found in their research, which was commissioned by the national knowledge institute Research and Data Centre (WODC). “In our interviews with experts such as judges and public prosecutors, they often described femicide as the killing or attempted killing of a woman because she is a woman. But when we asked which cases they would classify as femicide cases, their answers varied.”
Judges do recognise gender-related characteristics such as domestic abuse or misogynistic motives, and these can influence sentencing, but the term “femicide” is rarely used explicitly in court decisions. Ritzen and her colleagues analysed 282 court decisions for the study. All met the researchers’ working definition of femicide, but fewer than five explicitly mentioned femicide.
Ritzen does not have a definitive explanation for this. “It may be that the Public Prosecution Service presents a case as femicide while the judge ultimately sees it differently, or that the term is simply left out of the decision for one reason or another.” She emphasises that the study only looked at written court decisions, not at what was said in court.
Penalties
According to Ritzen, a clear definition of femicide would enable a more consistent approach to these cases. This would also make it more obvious that many killings of women are preceded by existing patterns of violence, stalking or earlier abuse, allowing police and prosecutors to intervene sooner.
Should the law be changed to include femicide as a separate offence carrying heavier penalties, as countries such as Cyprus and Italy have done? Ritzen does not think this is necessary. “In the Netherlands, these cases are classified as murder or manslaughter. Whether or not a judge calls it femicide, the sentences are already severe. Besides, we still need to see how those laws work in practice abroad.”
She warns against rushing into legislative changes in response to public demand. “Some judges may well look at these cases differently today. The cases we studied are from some time ago, and developments in this area are moving quickly.”
The researchers are keen to stress that they are not trying to tell judges or lawmakers what to do. They believe it is up to politicians to draw up a definition of femicide. “It’s important not just because it helps identify the phenomenon, but also for victims’ families.”