Women and Criminality: The Reporting of Crime News in
the British Press
By Mercy Nyawanza
ABSTRACT
This paper uses the reporting of familial
violence in national British papers as a window through which to examine the
representation of female offenders. Drawing on previous research which suggests
that women offenders are doubly condemned and represented more often than not
as mad or bad, this paper looks at eighteen stories of familial violence and
highlights gender differences in news reports. This paper exposes how crime is
treated as masculine, resulting in male crime being treated as having little
news value. On the other hand criminal women are seen as exceptional and
unnatural and hence their crime stories are more newsworthy and sensational as
shown in this paper. This paper also argues that the representation of women
offenders is rooted in patriarchal perceptions of the women and her place in
society and examines how themes such as that of the evil mother, the mad woman
and marital conflict are used in perpetuating misconceptions about women and
crime. In order to show how male offenders accused of similar crimes are
differently reported, a small number of cases involving male perpetrators are
included as comparators.
INTRODUCTION
Newspapers exert an enormous amount of
influence over public perception and opinion, for as they offer information
about the world they also suggest ways of understanding this information. Of
all the issues covered by newspapers , violence is a leading topic with British
newspapers giving about 65% of the crime news to news of personal violence (Naylor, 2001). This of course is related to the issue of
news values and in the media world the trend has been that the more gruesome a
story is, then the more newsworthy it becomes. The gender of the offender is
also important, with newspapers more keen on covering the more rare crimes by
women than those by men. This may be because crime is largely viewed as
masculine and so although men may have higher rates of offending, because their
crime is seen as normal it may not get as much attention as that of women,
which is seen as rare and therefore more appealing.
Search Terms and Statistics
To begin with, several search attempts with
phrases such as ‘female killer’ and ‘female murderer’ were made but these
yielded no results and at times brought up irrelevant results. An example of
this is that the term ‘female killer’ brought up stories of men who killed
women instead of stories of women who kill. More specific terms had to be used
instead like ‘mother kills sons’ or ‘wife kills husband’ The table below shows
the search terms that were finally used for the stories examined in this
chapter. It also shows the number of individual crimes each search term brought
up bringing the total number of separate incidents being analysed in this
chapter to 18 cases. Each of these 18 incidents yielded varying numbers of
associated articles.
Table 5.1
Search term Number of story types
|
Mother kills son |
6 |
|
Mother kills
daughters |
2 |
|
Woman kills
husband |
3 |
|
Man kills wife |
2 |
|
Male baby killers |
5 |
|
Man kills son |
1 |
|
Total |
18 |
It must be mentioned that although these
stories span a ten year period they do not include every crime story reported
in the newspaper but are a random selection by search terms of published crime
reports. This means that stories that did not fit the phrase used could have
been excluded even though they may have been about a similar subject. One of
the stories appeared both in the search term, ‘man kills wife’ and ‘man kills
son’ but it was only counted once. Of these 18, murder stories, 4 stories
involved both male and female offenders. The stories are the infanticide involving
Deidre Walsh and Phil Brennan, abuse and neglect of a minor by Mark Connelly
and Cheryl Hanson, abuse and neglect of a minor by Alexander McClure and Andrea
Bone and the honour killing of Rukhsana Naz by her mother and brother.
The ages were categorised into the
following categories to get an idea of the representation of crime by age:
Minors 0-14, Youth 15-21, Young Adults 22-35, Middle aged 36-50 and the mature
51-70. This is shown in table 5.2 below.
Table 5.2
|
Offender age groups |
0-14 N |
15-21 N |
22-35 N |
36-50 N |
51-70 N |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Female |
0 |
4
|
4 |
4 |
2 |
|
Male |
0
|
0
|
5 |
2
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
N stands for number
For the female age groups the sample under
study seems to suggest that women offenders are equally represented in the age
groups of 15-21, 22-35 and 36-50. There were no reports of women offenders in
the 0- 14 category and there were only 2 offenders in the mature group of
51-70. Little can be drawn from this pattern as the sample is far too small for
any conclusions to be made. Moreover Home Office statistics suggest that the
number of female offenders increases after the age of 21 and decreases after
the age of 44[i]. Besides being small, the
sample may have failed to reflect this because it was restricted to certain
crimes and search terms whilst the Home Office statistics referred to all crime
of violence to the person reported to the police.
The study also showed that there were more
male victims of crime featured than females. Of the 23 people that were victims
of crime, 6 were female and 17 were male. Whilst the large difference in gender
representation may be merely coincidental owing to the small sample size, it is
consistent with Home Office statistics that suggest there are more male victims
of crime than female. Statistics for 2005/6 showed that of the 766 homicides
recorded for that period, 67% of the victims were men (Coleman et al., 2007).
The sample also seems to suggest that that
there are more female murderers than men but the reality is contrary to this.
Whilst each search category yielded more results of women offenders than that
of men, Home Office statistics show that the number of males indicted for homicide
greatly exceeds that of women. This is shown in the table below.
Source
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/hosb0207. pdf
The difference in the gender numbers
produced by the sample study and the reality can be attributed to any number of
things. Once again because of the sample size it is not possible to draw any
meaningful conclusions although it can be argued that it is an indicator of how
newspapers find violence by women more newsworthy than that of men. As has been
argued, crime is held by society as being masculine (Pearson, 1998)and hence “normal” when done by men. This
suggests that a murder by a man may have little news value unless it was
bizarre or had an angle of public interest. Now, given the actual differences
in the numbers of women and men indicted for murder and manslaughter it would
not be surprising that violence by women would get more coverage as it is
statistically rare.
The most frequently reported crime for
women was in the category of women who killed their children. This takes into
account both sexes and includes babies and minors. For men, there were also
more stories of the abuse and murder of minors than of any other category. A
possible reason for more reporting on the murder of the young may be because
society abhors this kind of violence and such stories may get publicity because
newspapers want to spread the message that they are not acceptable. However
there was a notable difference in the framing of reports on the death of minors
in relation to the sex of the offender. This study revealed that where a mother
was responsible for the death of her child, reports were longer, journalists
were more likely to provide a social context on the matter and rationales such
as madness and depression were more likely to be employed to explain the crimes[ii].
This may be because as argued by Naylor
RESULTS
EMERGING
REPRESENTATIONAL FRAMES
A news frame can take on an enduring nature
in which a media template is formed. A media template is a frame that becomes
the leading frame and a reference point that is used from one event to another.
As argued by (Kitzinger, 2000)
…..templates serve
as rhetorical shorthand, helping journalists and audiences to make sense of
fresh news stories.
Exposure to repetitive and formulaic
coverage may cause media users to create a standard cognitive script, that
‘teaches’ them what to expect about crime, the kind of people who commit
particular types of crime, what happens
after crimes are committed and how they
should be dealt with (Filak and Pritchard, 2007). Once this template is established,
journalists may be unwilling to include information that gives alterative
accounts to established frames (Goleman, 1985).
Women who kill their children are often
framed as bad mothers or mentally ill
The depressed mother
This study found that as with many previous
studies (Allen, 1987, Morrissey, 2003, Naylor, 2001b, Kennedy,
1992) depression/madness was offered as a rationale for
some of the murders committed by women. This was especially pronounced where
women killed children in their care. Of the nine stories in which women were
involved in the deaths of their children, five of then were explained in terms of
the mothers having been depressed, suicidal and failing to cope. This was
expressed in some of the headlines such as;
“Mother kills son, then cuts her throat on a power saw;
PC 'devastated' over pregnant wife who was depressed by
marital problems”
“Mum stabs sons to death;
A depressed mother has stabbed her 2 sons and then killed
herself”
Underlying the reporting of these stories
was the shock expressed by the community at how something of this nature could
happen. These stories were written with a human interest and the opinions of
neighbour, friends and family were sought. The headline below is an example of
how these stories were framed.
“How could she kill them:
Exclusive: Community
speaks of their disbelief at suicide mum”
In all of these five stories it was
suggested that these murders had taken place against a backdrop of a mother who
had succumbed to depression and other mentally related conditions. The
disbelief expressed, suggests that society finds it difficult to concede
aggression in women and that it would rather look for ways of explaining it.
Failure by both society and journalists to comprehend these deaths may have a
lot to do with perceptions about motherhood. Motherhood has been portrayed in
society as the ultimate feminine attainment and a high calling for women (Douglas and Michaels, 2004, Brockington,
1996). However feminist scholars have challenged these
traditional ideas on mothering and argued that factors such as race, class and
sexual orientation can affect the way in which women take to motherhood and the
realities of motherhood (Kitzinger, 1995, Nicolson, 2001). These scholars have further argued that
motherhood is not a natural phenomenon for all women and that it is not all
women that are able to put the needs of their children before their own. The
journalists’ attempt at protecting the “goodness” of women may therefore
suggest a reluctance to accept the existence of deviant women.
There
were also sub-rationales that emerged in the cases of women who killed their
children. Prominent among these were the failings of the government and Social
Services to help suicidal and depressed mothers. Three of the nine stories
about mothers involved in the deaths of their children suggested that the
mothers had killed their children after failing to get help from Social
Services. This is expressed in headlines as well as by sources interviewed for
the articles. The first example relates to Sharon Grace who drowned her two
daughters before drowning herself.
So whilst the said offenders are
responsible ultimately for their actions, the blame is shared with the social systems
that failed to prevent them from happening. Blaming state systems for failing
to prevent crime is a common feature in news reports particularly those in
which children are abused or killed (Kitzinger, 1996). It not only allows the press a chance to
berate the perpetrator but also presents an occasion to confront the government
of the day.
The kind of sources used in the reporting of the Sharon
Grace tragedy, suggest that the press sympathised with her and acknowledged
that her depression had led to the killings. The sources which included a local
priest, her parents, neighbours and sister all gave emotional accounts and
vouched for Sharon Grace’s goodness. As is common in the representation of
depressed mothers who kill, there was not an outright condemnation of Sharon
Grace, but an expression of faith that she would not have done this in her
normal state. Statements made by her neighbour Angela particularly illustrate
this;
She
was a good mum too - she really cared for those kids….. She would never kill
those children in her own mind.
Another unnamed local woman also expressed shock and
implied that the Social Services should have helped Sharon Grace, as did Sharon
Grace’s dad;
“Are
there no services to help people like this? She must have been so upset and
without any hope to have done this, to have taken the final way out of this
world and to bring her daughters with her.”
In
an emotional outburst Mr Reddie said: “My
An investigation later revealed that Sharon Grace had
approached
Doctors
yesterday admitted Sharon had called to the private hospital on the outskirts
of Wexford town about half a mile from the strand last Saturday, just hours
before the tragedy. She was told social workers were only on duty from
This revelation helped to portray Sharon Grace as a
victim, first of her depression and also of a failing Social Services. The
father of her children was also quoted as having forgiven her, suggesting he
acknowledged that the tragedy although not an accident, had not been
intentional:
The former husband of tragic mum Sharon Grace
- who killed their daughters and then herself - said yesterday: “I forgive
her.”
Whilst
stories of depressed mothers who kill in this sample were generally framed in a
sympathetic tone there was one report in the coverage of the story of Sharon
Grace that can be said to have been harsh. It compared her depression to that
of another father who had experienced the same things but had overcome and not
killed his family. The feature article which appeared in the Mirror had the following headline:
“I was depressed and suicidal like tragic
Dad tells how he beat mental illness.
Quotations show who is thought to be a
credible source and also reflect that the journalist values the quoted opinion (Van Dijk, 1993). Quoting a man who had overcome
depression, may therefore suggest that the reporter thought
depression was not a good enough excuse for the killings and that Sharon Grace
was really just a bad mother. Whilst this report may have been written to
encourage suicidal and depressed mothers to get help, by specifically comparing
the depression this man[iii] had to Grace’s, it does
suggest that she is being condemned for failing to cope and being over
dependent on the system. The article reveals how this man had been failed by
the National Health System (NHS) which had failed to treat him properly and how
he had found help from alternative therapies;
Last
year, the 46-year-old's wife recommended he visit Maureen Mulligan at the Irish
Institute of Naturopathic Medicine in Co Wicklow. Michael said: “I thought
there was no light at the end of the tunnel but this woman, who takes on most
of her patients for free, took me in. The institute is not funded by the
Government yet manages to save the lives of dozens like me. They treat people,
properly, for nothing. If the Government continues to ignore a national
treasure like Maureen, people will continue being locked up in places like St
Brendan's where their illnesses can't be cured”.
Although the article seems to be saying that some of the
treatment of mental health patients in the NHS is inappropriate, it also
demonstrates that the journalist has failed to acknowledge that different
factors contribute to depression in men and women. By using the example of a
father, this article assumes Sharon Grace and this man were faced with the same
circumstances and yet Sharon Grace was a single mother with little support from
the father of her children whilst this man had a wife to help him cope. Such
ignorance is an example of how the challenges that face women are often
underestimated and ignored
The story of Patricia McCarvill
who shot and killed her son before trying to kill herself is another that fits
into the category of the depressed woman. Coverage of her story suggested that
she had become depressed following the revelation by her husband that he had
had an affair at work.
Hospital
catering manager Frank McCarvill, 43, had recently
confessed to his wife Patricia that he had been having an affair with a woman
he met at work. French-born Mrs McCarvill, 44, became
terribly depressed and was taken to hospital after an overdose.
Gisele
Tabary, 67, said Mrs McCarvill
had been living 'on the edge' for several months and was deeply depressed over
marital problems…… 'We have not just lost a grandson; we feel we have lost a
daughter too.
Mrs McCarvill was therefore
portrayed as a woman who had not been in total control of her mental faculties.
Notably only one of the headlines labelled her “shotgun mother”
My affair made my wife kill Jamie
Little
James shot after family row
Police quiz tragic mum
Sources in the coverage of the McCarvill
tragedy included the police, neighbours and family. The neighbours’ gave
testimony to the domestic violence and the regular police calls at the house.
Cops
were called to a row at Patricia McCarvill's home
just 15 hours before she shot dead her four-year-old son and blasted herself
with a shotgun, it was revealed last night. Resident Ian Duncan, 35,
said: "The police spent around 15 minutes at the home. There had been loud
arguments and people living nearby got fed up and called 999." But just
after
This history of violence coupled with the depression culminated
in Mrs McCarvill being portrayed as a woman who had
no agency in the killing. The coverage also appeared to dwell on the failings
of the Social Services to help the depressed woman. This was expressed by
husband, Frank McCarvill:
Mr McCarvill asked the
authorities to help his depressed wife but says that his concerns were ignored.
The
coverage of the McCarvill story which did not dwell
on the horrific nature of the crime but on the circumstances that drove her to
do it suggests that the press opted for an easier way to comprehend the act.
Whilst the press did not exonerate her it did not condemn her either,
suggesting they accepted that she had been driven to kill by the depression and
the infidelity.
Lucy Anne MacMartin who killed
her son and herself a month before she was due to give birth to her second
child was also represented as a mad mother. Press accounts detailed how she had
begun to suffer from depression after two miscarriages and become suicidal:
Lucy
Anne had been depressed following a second miscarriage in 1999, after which she
had tried to kill herself, it was said.
Mrs
MacMartin is understood to have been suffering from
severe depression and had been receiving psychiatric help.
Lucy
Anne MacMartin, 33, slashed her own throat
after a series of failed suicide attempts.
MacMartin
was represented in the context of her biology that had gone wrong after the
miscarriages. Apart from pregnancy, other psychopathological states in women
such as childbirth, lactation and menopause are legally sanctioned explanations
for acts of filicide (Heidensohn, 2000). Pathologizing of the female reproductive system has its
roots in the 19th century findings of criminologists from Lombrosso to Freud. Their works have largely been
influential in the building ideas of female pathology as explanations for
women’s criminality. Although some of the works of these early criminologists
have been discredited in feminist writings, the idea that women are governed by
their biology persists in medical, legal and media discourses on crime (Jewkes, 2004). Pathologizing the reproductive cycle also permits the ‘bad
mother’ theme to be used, as treating filicidal women as hormonally imbalanced
propagates the motherhood myth (Oakley,
1986) and
implies that ‘normal’ women have a natural instinct for motherhood.
There seemed therefore to be an effort to construct MacMartin as a ‘regular’ woman and not a ‘bad’ mother. It
emerged that although Macmartin had worked in a Post
Office for ten years and at the time of her death she had been working in a
children’s nursery and training to be a nursery assistant. She was therefore in
a nurturing and caring profession typical of the traditional woman. A mother of
one, Macmartin was described by her work colleagues
as a “lovely woman and a hard worker”
“Lucy
Anne doted on Sam and seemed so excited about the baby. We're all in a state of
shock”.
Lucy
Anne's husband Gary, 34, said she would "never, ever" have harmed
their son.
And her mum, Anne Greaves, said: “Her life
centred around Sam. He was the light of her life”
Consequently because MacMartin,
was a “regular” mother and woman who had a job looking after children and who
doted on her son, she was spared from demonisation.
Testimonials from her family and neighbours gave her story a human touch,
possibly meant to draw empathy and sympathy from readers. Although press
accounts did not conceal the horrific nature of the crime they did not condemn
her either but laid blame on the depression and the poor state of her marriage:
'There
had been some marital strife and although he was still living at home she may
have feared he was planning to leave her,' said one of PC MacMartin's
colleagues yesterday.
Mr
Macmartin told the hearing in
On the whole, excusatory narratives were used in the
representation of Lucy Anne MacMartin. Despite the
shock and the horror of her having killed her son then herself, she was not
cast as morally blameworthy. Instead each paper that covered the story noted
her history of depression following her misfortunate miscarriages and her
ailing marriage. Such narratives that present criminal women as victims of
depression highlight the existence of strong links between “the female” and
madness (Showalter,
1987)
and society’s reluctance to accept criminality in women.
The story of Isabelle Williams almost mirrors that of MacMartin. She too was a depressed woman who was unable to
control her actions. She stabbed her two sons, Rhodri and Stefan to death and
killed herself with the same knife. Sources that knew her presented her as a good
woman. Like (Lazarre, 1976) ideal
mother, she was “nice and quiet”, not the sort to do such things. Official
sources however, such as the coroner, the priest and a counsellor portrayed her
as an acutely depressed woman, who felt she was possessed by evil and had
become suicidal. Excerpts of the different accounts are shown below:
The
deaths have shocked the local community. Lynne Spears, 40, whose son Tom, 15,
was best friends with Rhodri, said: ''Isabelle seemed a nice, quiet
woman, not the type you would expect to do this sort of thing.
Close
neighbours said church-going Isabelle, 41, kept herself to herself and was
"the last person you would expect do this".
A
depressed mum stabbed her two sons to death and then killed herself.
“I am evil” torment of killer mum; Mother stabs sons to
death.
David Masters, the Wiltshire Coroner, ruled that Mrs
Williams committed suicide and that her sons had been unlawfully killed. He
said she had been obsessed with an “inherited evil” and carried out the
killings while acutely depressed.
The
background coverage of her story which included an interview with a member of
clergy revealed that she had seen herself as evil and had killed herself and
her children because of this. The story of Isabelle Williams led to the writing
of a feature article headlined;
“Of human darkness; the killing of a child by a parent is,
perhaps, the worst of all crimes, a betrayal of everything we hold precious. In
This feature demonstrated an awareness of factors that may
lead to filicide. It investigated matters such the breakdown of marriages, the
burden of childcare which often falls on women and even had contributions on
filicide in
The Evil
Mother
The
discourse of motherhood has for a long time been associated with long
suffering, nurturing, instinct and selflessness. This however has been
challenged by feminists who argue that the
invocation of the ideals of motherhood prevent us from seeing the
reality of others’ experience of motherhood and the fact that for many there
are barriers and restrictions to the ideals of good mothering (Robson,
2005, Ladd-Taylor and Umansky, 1988, Kitzinger and Skidmore, 1995). Analysing
how women who kill their children are constructed as “evil” mothers helps us to
understand how the hegemonic ideas of “good” mothering are reinforced and
perpetuated. Meyer et al. point out that:
….women characterised as “bad” are…depicted as cold,
callous, evil mothers who have often been neglectful of their children or their
domestic responsibilities… These mothers are often portrayed as sexually
promiscuous, non remorseful and even non- feminine
Of the ten cases in which women were involved,
this rationale was employed in three of the stories. In two of the cases[iv] the actual murder was
carried out by the women’s partners but they had allegedly been a part of the
abuse and neglect that preceded the tragedies.
Blaming
the mother diverts attention from the context in which mothering is taking
place. This is so particularly when the mother is made a scapegoat as the “bad”
mother. The idealization of motherhood exhibits itself in two ways that is, the
inclination to blame the mother on the one hand and a fantasy of maternal
perfectibility on the other (Chodrow and Contratto, 1982). Idealising
motherhood causes the woman who is faced with the task of giving the child a
good foundation for their social and emotional development with little or no
support. Furthermore the family in the West is seen as a private sphere and
bringing up a family is the responsibility of the family. As a result of the
family being a private entity, there is often physical and psychological
isolation of the mother-child dyad (Steedman, 1987). Mothers
then who deviate from the ideals of motherhood are subject to social and legal
regulation (Robson,
2005).
Ladd
Taylor and Umansky
The
case of Alexander McClure and Andrea Bone fits into the “evil” mother
rationale. McClure was found guilty of murdering his lover’s child. 13 month
old Carla Nicole Bone died after McClure repeatedly smashed her head against
the wall as mother, Andrea Bone and Durrand
Evil
baby killer Alexander McClure was last night facing life behind bars after
being convicted of the brutal murder of tragic tot Carla-Nicole Bone. The
sadistic bully broke the 13-month-old infant's skull by repeatedly smashing her
head against a wall in a gruesome finale to months of torture and abuse.
The
language used was highly emotive and descriptive, perhaps to give the reader a
sense of the gross nature of the crime. There were no excusatory narratives for
McClure. He was portrayed as an evil man who had to be put away. What is unique
in this case however is that the mother of the child suffered joint
condemnation for the neglect of her child. The reports alleged that the baby’s
mother looked on as her lover battered her baby, whilst she drank coffee and
smoked. Her failure to stop the event was treated both by the courts and the
media as an act of approval. Andrea Bone was therefore not spared demonisation as the two were described as the “evil pair”
There
were a number of features key to the image of a bad mother that the press
highlighted in the McClure-Bone case. This was the cruelty to the child, the
negligence
Andrea
Bone’s QC also tried to employ psychiatric terms in constructing her by arguing
that she was pregnant and that no normal woman would have watched her child
die:
“There
were no reasonable steps she could have taken to prevent what happened. She was
8 months' pregnant with her second child, had three personality disorders and
had low intelligence, which impeded her ability to take action,” Mr Davidson
said.
“We
are not dealing with someone who comes under a general bracket, someone who is
normal”.
These
excusatory narratives however were not adopted by the press as already shown.
At the end of the trial McClure was found guilty of murder and Andrea Bone
guilty of culpable homicide. Press reports represented this sentencing as one
in which one of the virtues of motherhood had been breached. As mothers are
supposed to be nurturers with a maternal instinct to protect their offspring (Brockington, 1996, Douglas and Michaels, 2004), Andrea Bone
breached this code and so was portrayed as a bad mother. Evidence was given in
court which suggested that she had not been giving her child adequate food and
that her daughter had been subjected to abuse:
Mr
Dewar, 36, told the jury: "The kitchen was almost devoid of food of any
sort, especially in relation to an infant child."
It
is alleged that Nicole was subjected to a catalogue of cruel and unnatural
treatment over several months before her death, including being force-fed.
The
failures of “the system” to stop the abuse were also highlighted in the press.
As has already been noted it is common practice to do so in the reporting of
child abuse. Part of a report told how Social Services had been alerted of the
abuse that Nicole Bone was going through and yet they ignored the reports:
As the evil pair awaits their fate, social work chiefs
launched a probe into their handling of the case after accusations that they
failed to act on warnings. Grandmother, Elizabeth Berry, claimed she had
repeatedly told social services that Carla-Nicole was in danger but she had not
been taken seriously.
Although
in cases of depressed mothers, scapegoating Social
Services was used to deny mothers moral agency, it was not so for Andrea Bone.
The allegation that the Social Services had not heeded calls for intervention
did little to change her image of a bad mother. Characteristically, she could
not have been portrayed as a good mother as she was presented as a promiscuous
woman and a negligent mother. Women who form murderous alliances with their
partners present a challenge to institutions that want to comprehend and
explain their behaviour, like the press media, especially when their victims
are children. Such women are an ambiguity to academic and feminist discourse
and offer the least likelihood for rehabilitation as far as media and legal
fields are concerned
The intentions of women who collude with their partners to
kill are not too clear. Smith
Paula
Moore is one such example of a woman who got involved with a violent man who
later killed her child. Richard Baxter killed his girlfriend’s fourteen month
old baby by shaking and beating him on the head. In this report the mother of
the child is portrayed as a victim too of Baxter’s violent and possessive ways.
The report as shown below suggests she would have wanted to escape the violent
relationship but she could not as he tied her legs to his at night. In this
sense she is not really a bad mother, but a woman who got herself into the
wrong company and suffered for it. She is described as the ‘blonde lover’ which
although that was the colour of her hair can signify that, she was a naïve
woman who trusted the wrong man as shown:
Twisted baby killer Richard Baxter roped his blonde lover
to his side at night so she couldn't leave him. Sex-mad Baxter, 30, who had 11
kids with six women, tied Paula Moore's legs to his, Teesside Crown Court heard
yesterday.
Unlike other infanticide stories, this case
did not have many hits. Lexis Nexis only gave two
hits even after his name was used as a search term. This of course does not
mean that there were only two reports on the case as there could have been others
that did not fit the search terms used. A low number of hits may also indicate
that the press did not find the case newsworthy. Research suggests that the
murder of infants becomes more newsworthy if the perpetrator is the mother (Coward,
1997, Douglas and Michaels, 2004).
Richard
Baxter was portrayed as a sub-human monster by the Daily Star. Their
headline read:
Beast
binds lover.
Notice
how the headline makes no reference to the crime of murder but magnifies the
inhumane nature of Baxter. The rest of the report continued to demonize him
with terms such as ‘twisted’, ‘crazed’, ‘fiend’, and ‘sex mad’. Fiend naming is
a common element in the representation of male offenders particularly by tabloid
papers
This
report framed Baxter as a narcissistic philanderer of low moral standing,
demonstrating that he lacked empathy and hence was unlike normal men. By
diverting attention away from the crime in question to his “evil” personality,
the crime was made to appear as something so terrible that normal men did not
do it. Treating such murders as rare and spectacular however, conceals the
reality that children are often killed by people in parental positions (Alder and
Polk, 2001).
In
contrast the report in the Mirror dealt with the case in a more factual
and legalistic manner. It stated that he had been sentenced to life and told
that he had been under the influence of alcohol and drugs when he committed the
offence. Although the article mentioned that he had fathered many children with
different women, there were no sexual overtones in it. Instead, Baxter was
portrayed as a man who lost control under the influence of mind altering
substances without underestimating the gravity of the crime. The short report
is shown below:
A
father of 11 was yesterday jailed for life for shaking a baby to death. Richard Baxter, 30, had been on a drink and
drugs bender when he killed 14 -month-old Jake Baxter after biting his cheeks
and causing 27 other injuries. Mum Paula Moore, 21, spoke of her
"delight" Baxter, of Middlesbrough - who has kids by six women - was
found guilty of murder. Judge Peter Fox told Teesside Crown Court he will
recommend a minimum time in jail.
It
is interesting to note that although the media portrayed Baxter as a man
dependent on alcohol and drugs there was no implication that he may have been a
depressed man, needing help. Although he is referred to as ‘crazed’ and
‘twisted’, this is not used in mitigation or to deny him agency. Instead Baxter
is portrayed as an evil man needing punishment as highlighted by his ex-lover’s
delight that he got a custodial sentence. Typically women who commit murder are
seen as mad mothers who need help and so they are treated using the welfare
treatment model. On the other hand, filicidal men are seen as bad men who need
correction by punishment and so they are treated with the legal punishment
model. It is probable that the way the courts view male filicidal offenders,
influences the way they are portrayed by the press. In this instance Baxter
becomes the evil monster that need to be locked away.
Cheryl Hanson’s story is another that can be argued as
having emanated from a chance meeting with an ‘evil’ man. However unlike Paula
Moore, there was no evidence that she tried to stop her partner from inflicting
abuse on her son. This crime which took place in
The language in the coverage of the death of Scott
Saunders was highly emotive and descriptive, indicating how the horrifying the
crime was considered to be. Connelly was referred to as a monster or evil in
the headlines as shown in the examples below:
Monster
who beat boy gets 16 years; evil kid killer
Life for an evil junkie tot killer
Casual cruelty of a child murderer; Revulsion for monster
who beat, kicked and starved toddler as his mother searched for drugs.
The
way in which narratives berated him for his conduct suggests that they found
his actions repulsive and callous. In some headlines he was referred to as a
‘monster’ and ‘evil’ therefore stressing that his actions were so bad that they
were sub-human. In this instance Connelly can be argued to have an assumed an
image of someone whose actions were so unnatural and abnormal that he could not
be perceived as a normal man. Although Hanson pleaded guilty to manslaughter to
avoid a trial she was not spared from condemnation either by the Press. The
pair was dually referred to as ‘evil’, ‘junkies’ and ‘monsters’ as shown by
headline examples below:
The
monsters
Heroin meant much more to evil pair than wee boy's life;
starving tot was left to die
God
knows what we'd have done with those b******s if we'd got our hands on them.
The labels used suggest that the crime was seen as
contemptible and so low that only abnormal people could have done. When a
murderess becomes a ‘monster’ she loses her humanity and although it is
accepted that she had agency, it is not as a ‘normal woman. By monsterising Hanson, she assumes a mythical character of
the evil mothers, Medea and Medusa who killed their
own hence reinforcing the idea of her wickedness and abnormality.
Interestingly the pair is referred to as junkies. Although
this term is a name for drug addicts it also has an overtone of someone who is
dishonourable, immoral, cheap and a “lowlife”. As in the story of McClure and
Bone there were no excusatory narratives. In particular there was shock that a
mother could stand by and watch her son go through abuse as shown below:
At
their trial, both Hanson and Connelly were described as ' monsters'. The words
of prosecuting advocate Dorothy Bain, QC, and the horrific images they
conjured, are certain to remain with everyone who heard them for a very long
time. She said: 'I don't know who is the worst, the monster who took charge of
Scott and did the beatings, or the monster who stood by and did nothing.'
This quote attempts to equate the actions of Connelly to
that of mother Hanson. They imply that she breached the motherhood code by
standing by and watching. This may be an indication that media and public
response to women who kill are more exaggerated than they are for men (Wykes, 1998). Although
Connelly is demonised for his actions, there are no questions relating to his
gender that are raised, whilst for Hanson it is her gender that is the focus of
press accounts. There is no effort to investigate why she looked on and watched
or whether as a drug addict she had been sober when these things happened.
There is much blame that is cast on her, both by the courts and the press,
without much focus on the circumstances that this mother was embroiled in, such
as the fact that she had no money as shown below and also that she had returned
to drug abuse:
Scott
Saunders was fed only on cornflakes until his mother, Cheryl Hanson, and Mark Connelly ran out of money.
Casual cruelty of a child murderer; Revulsion for monster
who beat, kicked and starved toddler as his mother searched for drugs
Serious
questions have already been raised about how any mother could stand by as her
child was subjected to such shocking treatment… Hanson herself cannot offer an
explanation nor has she even tried to. In her drug-induced state, she claims
she was not aware of what Connelly was doing to her child even when he would
tell her that Scott needed 'disciplining'.
The excerpts above insinuate that although Hanson did not
physically assault her son she was to blame for his death because she had not
protected her child from harm. By using the word ‘claims’, in the excerpt, the
journalist may be implying that her testimony that she was ignorant of
Connelly’s activities is not credible. The Express actually charged that
both of them had been fully in control of themselves suggesting therefore that
the pair were just evil people:
This
was a truly tragic case brought about by two drug addicts. Yet neither can
pretend - and no one would believe - that their despicable behaviour was in any
way caused by their addiction. Connelly and Hanson were able to go out night
after night to seek their sordid pleasures….. They were perfectly aware of the
suffering being endured by Scott but did nothing to help. Instead, Connelly
constantly beat the child, while his mother ignored his plight.
Hanson’s
credibility is further reduced by the fact that she was a prostitute. The myth
of the all protecting and all powerful mother is further promoted in a report
by the Sun at the community’s anger towards Hanson:
The
mob daubed Hanson's flat with slogans, smashed her windows and threatened to
torch the block when they found out what she had allowed her evil lover to do
to two-year-old Scott Saunders.
In this instance although Hanson’s reasoning may have been
affected by the mind altering substances that she took, this was not seen as
having removed criminal agency. What is interesting in the representation of
Hanson is that she suffers double condemnation as compared to Connelly. The
myth of the good mother is perpetuated as narratives highlighted the
expectations of society and the legal system on women with children. There is
little recognition of how difficult it is for a ‘normal’ woman to meet the
needs of her offspring, let alone for a woman troubled by drink, drug and
poverty. She was condemned not only because she was a passive participant but because
she failed to live up to social expectations of the good mother who nurtures
and protects. She was portrayed as a woman who was bent on satisfying her own
needs whilst those of her son went unmet as she engaged in prostitution,
gambling and drug and alcohol abuse. Connelly too was portrayed as the evil
monster that needs locking away. Although Connelly is not spared from demonisation, unlike Hanson there does not appear to be any
social code that he breached apart from the fact that he was ‘wicked’. Although
he was described in narratives as ‘sick’ and ‘twisted’, no one seemed to
suggest that psychiatric treatment and drug rehabilitation was the best way to
help him suggesting that he was perceived as having full agency and in full
control of his mental faculties. The fact that he was a heroin addict was not
seen as a mitigating factor Both Hanson and Connelly are portrayed as an
abnormal and evil people who needed to be put away to protect society.
The coverage surrounding this
crime however, chose to portray the neglect and subsequent death of Scott
Saunders at the hands of drug addicts as a rare occurrence as shown below:
Mercifully,
such cases are rare, but the trial will leave its imprint forever on all who
have had to listen to and witness the searing evidence of how two people can
descend to the depths of evil.
The reality of course is grimmer, showing that there are
thousands of children that suffer at the hands of drug abusing parents as shown
in a later article of the same paper:
According
to the figures, up to 350,000 children in
This revelation therefore suggests that society prefers to
treat certain crimes as rare and spectacular, particularly if they are crimes
against minors that involve their mothers. The idea that a mother can neglect
her child and allow its suffering is anathema to the idea of motherhood.
Therefore instead of facing to the reality that not all women are good mothers
and that motherhood is not natural, the press may present such women as evil
and inhuman hence propagating myths and stereotypes about women’s criminality.
This may be an effort to preserve the image of the mother as a pure and
nurturing being who instils values into her children.
Infidelity
and Marital Conflict
Infidelity
and marital problems were also used to explain why some people are involved in
murder. This was a leading rationale in cases of spousal murder but was also
recognised in instances where a father or a mother killed their children. What
this highlights is probably the importance of family cohesion and the tragedies
that may be associated with its disintegration. Of the 18 stories in this
study, marital problems and infidelity were identified as a contributory factor
in 9 of them. For spousal murders, men were more likely to kill their partners
for trying to divorce them whilst women killed their husbands owing to
accumulated years of domestic violence and abuse.
There
are two cases in this study of men who killed their wives. In the case of Alan
Pemberton, who killed his wife after she alleged that he had sexually abused
her and then filed for divorce, he was presented as a “maniac” who was bent on
getting revenge for his wife’s claims and the divorce suit. The other case was
that of Derek Symmons who killed his wife after she
discovered that he was having an extramarital affair. Initial reports suggested
that the tragedy had occurred after she had hit him in a row although reports
beyond the period of study did highlight that he had been cheating on his wife.
What is interesting in these two cases is that the stories were framed in ways
that suggest that the female victims were partly to blame for the tragedies
that befell them. These two stories contribute to the discourse of marriage and
divorce and highlight the controversial patriarchal issues of ownership of the
wife that subtly surround this institution.
There
were also three cases in the sample in which women murdered their partners
owing to marital problems. These are the cases of Anna Maria Sacco, Norma Cotter and Delores O’Neil. In all these three
cases, the tragedies had occurred on the background of a violent relationship.
Although the violence was mentioned in the cases, it would appear that there
was an effort to question the credibility of the stories of the said women.
This was evidenced by the kind of opinion sought for by the journalists and by
some feature articles written in the wake of the crimes. This sceptical
attitude was exhibited in the following headlines such as;
“Getting away with murder?”
“Guilty of stabbing husband to death; But mum beats murder
rap.”
“Jury didn't get true view of my brother.”
“She
branded our Gary an alcoholic & wife beater but we don't believe that. Now
he's lying in his grave and she's walking free; Exclusive: family's rage at
wife who shot dead her husband.”
Although
there have been changes in legislation resulting in a more sympathetic attitude
and use of excusatory narratives in stories of battered women who kill since
the high profile cases of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, and Sara Thornton[vi]
Ahluwalia’s case has
been argued
The
case of Anna Maria Sacco was treated slightly
differently owing to the complex nature of the relationships between the victim
and the offender. Briefly, Anna Maria Sacco was
accused of having hired her fifteen year old female lover to kill her violent
husband, Franco Sacco. Unknown to her, this young
girl had also been involved with her husband. The mix of adultery and
lesbianism may have been what contributed to the sensational nature of the
reports in this case but it also hinted that society still has some discomforts
with the lesbian woman and sees her as not so woman. Notably one’s sexual
orientation is hardly ever an issue for heterosexual couples but may be so for
gay people. This may be significant in light of (Holmlund, 1993) argument
that lesbians have been viewed as rapists, vampires and killers. What this may
suggest is that society is intolerant of anything that does not conform to
traditional norms. This discomfort with the violent lesbian woman was expressed
in these headlines;
“The
twisted devotion that made girl kill.”
“Lesbian mystery of girl who admitted shooting her boss;
Girl who killed boss, in lesbian riddle.”
“I shot Sacco for love of his
wife; Sensational confession of girl, 17, at murder court.”
An Honour
killing
There was another story in which the themes of infidelity
and marital conflict emerged but did not fit the category of spousal murder.
This was the honour killing of Rukhsana Naz. An honour killing is a broad term used to refer to the
premeditated murder of women by one or more males of the family owing to
allegations or proof of sexual misconduct by the victim (Amnesty-International,
1999). Rukhsana Naz was killed by her
mother and her brother after having an extra-marital affair. Rukhsana Naz - who had a husband
in
The
framing of this story was unique in a number of ways, particularly because it
concerned certain cultural traditions of an ethnic group that are not
appreciated in the Western world in general and in
In
1986, 19 Asian girls aged between 14 and 23 ran away from home in
Such pressure to conform, combined with high expectations,
can lead to massive strain on young women. Veena
Raleigh, an epidemiologist who has studied suicides among Asian women, said the
tight-knit domestic unit with a strong sense of family pride could be a
contributory factor.
‘Such a close
institution has tremendous pay-offs such as very low delinquency and very high
educational achievement’, she said. ‘But a problem is that women have no self-
identity. You are a mother or a wife or a sister. You are never yourself. That
leads to tremendous pressures’.
Campaigners
claim the honour code - and its accompanying concept of shame - is a key factor
in the repression of the rights of tens of thousands of Asian women in
Up
to 1,000 young British Asian women are said to be forced into marriage each
year, although women's groups believe that the figure could be far higher. The
practice, in which British girls are forced to marry a husband chosen by their
parents, often in a ceremony conducted abroad, is strongest within
Shakeela Naz
was portrayed as an evil mother because she failed to protect her offspring.
News coverage expressed the usual shock and horror of a mother being involved
in the murder of her daughter as shown in these headlines;
Mother murdered pregnant daughter.
Murdered for shame; Life in prison for pair who thought
family had been dishonoured, mother and son killed pregnant Moslem girl.
However
the emphasis of this story was that of a practice that was contrary to
civilised British culture which holds freedom of choice very dear. This can be
seen in the following headlines;
“Cultural tradition denies freedom of choice.”
“Maimed in the name of family honour and murdered; A
father stabbing his daughter to death, a sister strangled by her brother, a
husband cutting off his wife's nose... it's hard to believe, but horrific
crimes like this are happening in Britain today - all for bringing 'shame' on
the family.”
The
unusual framing of this story in which the condemnation of cultural practices
takes greater prominence than the condemnation of the murderers suggests that
the representation of something is determined by its position in relation to
dominant culture. This is not to suggest that honour killing and arranged
marriages should be tolerated but to highlight that the degree to which
something/someone challenges or contradicts dominant culture can potentially
influence its representation in the newspapers. Representation of matters relating to “race” are often
concerned with power and meaning (Ferguson,
1998). By dramatizing and
highlighting the role of arranged marriages in this story, journalists were
able to direct attention not only to the murder but also to a culture they
found contemptuous. In essence
it became a story of double deviance, that is, a deviant culture and deviant
behaviour.
One peculiarity in the coverage of the
honour killing was the press’ reluctance to make a distinction between arranged
and forced marriages. The logical argument would be that with the latter
category the woman had no choice in the matter and that with the former she
could opt otherwise. Although arranged marriages are seen as acceptable but
archaic by the British public, but there is consensus that young people should
not be forced into marriages against their own will (Siddiqui, 2003). However, as Siddiqui
(2003) contends, the line between arranged and forced marriages is a thin one
and as young people are hesitant to report their parents to the authorities if
they are forced into one. Even so there are young “modern” people who are in
favour of arranged marriages and who see them as part of their identity. This
is exemplified in the report carried by The Times:
Yet
not every Asian is against the idea. Last year the Indian film star Madhuri Dixit, known as "the
Queen of Bollywood", had an arranged marriage to
Shriram Neme, a
The
story of honour killings can therefore be seen as one that demonstrates the
power struggle between minority Muslim culture and the might of prevailing
western culture. It demonstrates intolerance as the concept of arranged
marriages is perceived as the root of these tragedies. As found in the report on Multi- ethnicity in
“
The
nature of the reporting on this honour killing demonstrates a discomfort with
difference and cries out for assimilation of British Asian people. The
representation of honour killings remains a controversial one. For whilst an
honour killing can simply be seen as a murder, it would be folly to ignore that
it is prevalent in more cultures than in others. However there have been calls
for honour killings to be
dissociated with religious belief systems and instead be located in the continuum of patriarchal
patterns of violence against women (Sev'er and Yurdakul, 2001, Siddiqui, 2003,
Wilson, 2007). Previously, drawing attention to abuse within
minority communities has brought charges of fuelling racism further and pushing
the problem underground (Siddiqui, 2003, Burman, 2005).
So
in this instance, Shakeela Naz
was condemned not only for killing her daughter but also for doing it because
of a tradition that was oppressive, alien to British culture and unacceptable
in modern society. Something worth noting too is that as a victim of crime Rukhsana Naz was portrayed
sympathetically despite the fact that she had been killed because she had
carried on with an extra-marital affair. Previous studies on the representation
of female victims of crime suggest that women that women who violate
appropriate codes of behaviour are portrayed negatively (Madriz, 1997, Meyers, 1997) but her
portrayal as an innocent victim of crime further emphasises the anxiety
patriarchy has with cultures that challenge its own. This anxiety is expressed
in newspapers as they too are a part of the patriarchal systems that govern the
world (Berrington and Honkatukia, 2002).
Conclusion
The
representation of women in this study suggests that journalists have a stock
number of ‘women-who-kill’ frames which they use, sometimes interchangeably, as
strategies of comprehension, to make sense of the ‘deviant’ and murderous acts
of women:. By undertaking a modest comparison with male killers accused of
similar crimes, the frames which are used almost exclusively for women killers
are revealed. As women are seen as the custodians of morality, when they are
seen to transgress this ‘norm’, they are punished by the exercise of particular
routines of naming and representation within news media discourse. One example of how this is made manifest is
in the nature of reports in the cases of battered women who kill, by the
condemnation of women who kill their children and also in the labelling of
women as mad. As
The
role of hegemonic culture was also evident in the representations of associated
issues such as ‘race’ and ethnicity, such as the honour killing case of Rukhsana Naz. The reporting in
this case which revealed how journalists were contemptuous of the tradition of
arranged marriages, demonstrates the anxiety that mainstream ‘white’ society has
with cultures which are different to its own. . It is also an indicator of an
intolerance of difference. Those people who do not conform to ‘accepted’
standards are demonised. It is this same manner of thinking that sees criminal
women labelled as bad or mad women without real investigations into their
individual circumstances.
The
reluctance to accept women’s agency in committing violent acts, especially the
murder of their or other people’s children, is clearly revealed in the
representation of female offenders in this study. A relatively limited range of
excusatory narratives were revealed such
as madness, marital problems and the failings of Social Services Some of these
narratives, especially those of mad and bad women, reflect the findings of many
other studies which look at women’s anti-social or otherwise aberrant behaviour
and acts. Whilst it has been argued that
using these narratives denies women agency (Morrissey,
2003)
such suggestions perhaps conceal or ignore the social and other problems which
can and do propel women into committing
acts of violence.. These problems include, among others, lack of support in
bringing up their families, poverty and failure to live up to expectations of
idealised femininity and motherhood. Where the offender was described using the
“mad” woman narrative, there was an effort by the press to identify sources who
would say that the accused was a good woman whose general behaviour was not
characteristic of a criminal. This desire to protect the ‘reputation’ of women
may be an indication that society wants to keep women as the custodians of
’good’ behaviour and morality. Labelling women as good or bad thus works as a
means of controlling the types of behaviour which are perceived as acceptable
for women (Morris and Wilcyznski, 1993).
‘Bad
mother’ narratives were used when there was no psychiatric explanation for the
crime and highlights society’s anxiety with deviant women. The study revealed
that the bad mother narrative was used for women who failed to fit the
traditional role of nurturer and protector. These women were portrayed as
negligent and evil mothers who did not satisfy their expected roles. Further
they were women of uncontrolled sexual desires who got involved with the
‘wrong’ men and consequently lost their proper sense of value. Press reports
failed to acknowledge that the mothering instinct is not common to all women
and that gender is a social construct. The ‘evil mother’ narrative plays to the myth that
mothers are all-powerful, all- knowing and all-loving at all time. Demonising
the ‘failed’ mother permits journalists to ignore the fact that whilst
motherhood is idealised there is little social support for those women who are
involved in everyday task of child rearing and some women cannot cope on their
own (Kitzinger, 1995).
A number of factors have been identified by
researchers as contributing to an environment in which women could be and are
driven to kill their children, including financial difficulties (Jensen, 2001), depression, or as part of a suicide and
murder scheme in which they hope to be reunited with their children in heaven (Alder and Polk, 2001). A demonstration of an awareness of such
contributory factors by journalists may help to change society’s perceptions on
the matter and may even encourage greater increased assistance for vulnerable
women who are overwhelmed by their maternal responsibilities.
Although
there were too few cases that dealt with male offenders to be able to make
generalisations, the results do give some insights into the representation of
male offenders in the press and how this representation differs to that of
women accused of similar crimes. What was clear is that although murders by men
were condemned, there was less shock expressed than cases involving. Instead,
male criminals were constructed as aggressive, a danger to society who had to
be put away and punished. Whilst these men were certainly demonised, their
masculinity was not called into question, whereas it was precisely the
compromising of women’s intrinsic ‘femininity’
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