Data on 'Femicide' - the homicide of women by men for sentimental reasons - in Italy shows that it occurs as the final outcome of a series of violence and right violations. Nevertheless, data collection itself contains gaps and drawbacks which makes the preventive identification of the phenomenon difficult, no matter the recent ratification of major international conventions on gender rights.

1. FEMICIDE IN ITALY:
COLLECTING DATA IN A GENDER
PERSPECTIVE
Research proposal presented to the Conference
"Districare il nodo Genere-Potere:
Sguardi interdisciplinari su politica, lavoro, sessualità e cultura"
February 2014, 21-22
Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Gender issues (CSG)
University of Trento

2. PREMISES
1. "Figures alone cannot sufficiently advance a gender-based
analysis"
quoting Marie-Dominique de Suremain, Jean-Pierre Darlot, Marie-Christine Elgard, Yves
Gerday, Claude Mugnier, Mathilde Sengoelge and Marcel Spector, authors of a EU-27
comparative analysis on the estimation of "Intimate Partner Violence related mortality in
Europe"(2010) granted by the EU Programme Daphne III 2007-2013 for the prevention
of violence towards children, adolescents and women
2. Small numbers but major implications of this phenomenon
(as for alcoholism, paedophilia, etc.) both short and long run implications, both at the
household and at the society level, either in economic, legal, mental, psychological, etc.
terms
3. Generous literature in the field but lack of studies which
explore the phenomenon in a quantitative perspective
4. Scholars also make a clear distinction between the words
"femicide" versus "feminicide"

3. RATE OF HOMICIDES IN ITALY:
A CONTROVERSIAL ISSUE.
i. VICTIM-PERPETRATOR RELATIONSHIP
retrived from: Rapporto sulla Criminalità in Italia. Analisi, Prevenzione, Contrasto (2006)
"In recent years, the
percentage of male
perpetrators towards
victims of the same sex has
fallen (...)."
What has increased, in
relative terms, are episodes
of murders where the victim
was female and the author
was a man (...).
Rapporto sulla Criminalità
in Italia. Analisi,
Prevenzione, Contrasto
(2006). Pagg.127-8

4. RATE OF HOMICIDES IN ITALY: A CONTROVERSIAL ISSUE.
II. YEARS 2000-2012 : 27,8% TOTAL HOMICIDES INVOLVES
FEMALE VICTIMS (150-200 peOPLE)- Eures
"Gendered
homicide": the
trend is constant
Verkko's
Law
Gendered-
approach
"Intimate partner/family-related
homicide is the major cause of
female homicides."
Special Rapporteur on violence
against women, its causes and
consequences: Mission to Italy -
The trend is
stable: it still
has to be
tackled
The trend is stable:
there is a
"physiological" level

5. GENDER PERSPECTIVE:
CONTEXTUALIZING FEMICIDE
"Such killings are not isolated incidents that arise
suddenly and unexpectedly, but represent the
ultimate act of violence which is experienced in a
continuum of violence.
Women subjected to continuous violence and living
under conditions of gender-based discrimination and
threat are always on ―death row, always in fear of
execution.
This results in the inability to live, and is a major part
of the death process when the lethal act finally
occurs."

6. HOMICIDE IN ITALY: TYPOLOGY
(ABSOLUTE FIGURES, YEARS1992-2006)

7. CURRENT DATA
COLLECTION:
EXAMPLES
Femicide following sexual violence or prostitution
are currently gathered to those for "other reasons"
(as drugs, serial homicides, etc) rather then to
femicides as homicides of women "because of
their sex".
We know the weapon used in
familiar homicides but not the
one used most commonly in
domestic femicides

8. INTERNATIONAL COMMENTS
ON THE ITALIAN CONTEXT
Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women,
its causes and consequences: Mission to Italy (2012)
"(...) The high levels of domestic violence, which are contributing
to rising levels of femicide, demand serious attention."
"(...) previous achievements have not led to a decrease in the
femicide rate"
The Special Rapporteur notes limitations in efforts of Government
institutions to collect disaggregated data and statistics related to
violence against women, including femicides.

9. MAJOR PROBLEMS
LACK OF JURIDICAL DEFINITION, LACK OF HOMOGENEOUS
CRITERIA FOR ITS DEFINITION ACROSS COUNTRIES AND
LACK OF COMPARATIVE DATA
Def. of "femicide" as: - gender homicide? - homicide of women
because of her sex (i.e. prostitute? lesbian? etc.? passional
motives? etc.)?
Def. ONU: "The killings can be active or direct, with defined perpetrators,
but they can also be passive or indirect. The direct category includes:
killings as a result of intimate-partner violence; sorcery/witchcraft-related
killings; honour-related killings; armed conflict-related killings; dowry-
related killings; gender identity- and sexual orientation-related killings;
and ethnic- and indigenous identity-related killings. The indirect category
includes: deaths due to poorly conducted or clandestine abortions;
maternal mortality; deaths from harmful practices; deaths linked to
human trafficking, drug dealing, organized crime and gang-related

10. Estimation of intimate-partner violence related
mortality in Europe (2010)
IT IS DIFFICULT TO IDENTIFY THE PERSISTENT CONTROL CERTAIN MEN
HAVE OVER "THEIR" PARTNER
where the perpetrator was a person dating (without having necessarily an intimate
relationship)
(e.g. homicides
disguised as
accidents, fatal
pathologies due to the
stress of IPV,
disappearances)
EU Programme Daphne III 2007-2013 for the prevention of
violence towards children, adolescents and women

11. CROSS-COUNTRY
COMPARISON INDEX
"It seemed necessary to illustrate the
interpretation of published figures with
real case studies within a sociological
approach, since numbers alone cannot
sufficiently advance a gender-based
analysis.
Priority on the observed and published
national data judged reliable, whenever they
exist. The available data vary in
accordance with the evolution of
legislative changes, and the social and
scientific contemplation taking place in each
of the Member States. "
Darlot J.P., De Suremain M.D. et al. (2010),
Estimation of intimate-partner violence
related mortality in Europe - EU
Programme Daphne III 2007-2013 for the

12. THEIR METHODOLOGY
The methodology utilised has a triple approach, from a gender-based point of
view:
 a macro-data approach: European and international databases available.
The data were medical (Eurostat mortality data on homicides and suicides
and those from the World Health Organization) and police data (homicides
from Interpol - International Criminal Police Organization and from the United
Nations- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime);
 a meso-data approach: we collected the results of studies, estimations
and specific reports from all of the 27 Member States (MS) related to IPV
mortality, depending on their availability and if the results appeared viable and
the methodology clear and explicit;
 micro-data approach: homicide cases by keyword search on major
newspapers in France, Italy and Austria.

13. femICIDE RISK and causal
effects
DATABASE IN A GENDER
PERSPECTIVE (Eures, 2000-2011)
• authors: partner 42%
• motive: possession 30%
• location : house
• interaction at the moment of the
femicide : quarrel
• daily time: evening
• perpetrator's behaviour after: suicide
36%
• etc.
RISK INDICATORS
 Drugs addiction+ quarrels (35%)+weapon
"possession"
 Economic dependence (18%) + jealousy+
violence (45%), ecc.
Source: EURES INDISPENSABILE
APPROCCIO MULTIDISCIPLINARE
DURABLE RISK FACTORS *
- prior domestic violence - male partner unemployment –
firearm ownership -drug and alcohol use- - threat of separation
-sexual jealousy -extreme male dominance etc.
* See, for example: Cao, L., Hou, Ch. and Huang, B., Correlates
of the Victim Offender Relationship in Homicide, International
Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology
(2007); Abrahams, N., Jewkes, R. and Mathews, Sh., Guns and
gender-based violence in South Africa, South African Medical
Journal (2010) and Roberts, D.W., Intimate Partner Homicide:
Relationships to Alcohol and Firearms, Journal of Contemporary
Criminal Justice (2009).

14. DETECTION
1. Monitoring geografical areas and
individual background
2. Data integration (violence assistance,
hospitals, police data etc.)
3. Phenomenon : trend evaluation
Prevalence of femicide
perpetrated by
partners
(according to Eures)
DATA ON
VIOLENCE
hidden
violence rate
estimate: 93%
In 67% cases, third
people knew about
previous violence
N. ACTUAL FEMICIDE /N. WOMEN AT RISK
Juridical def. Risk indicators

15. OPEN QUESTIONS
How many violences (announced- not announced)
become femicide?...
How many denounced violences transforms to
femicide before their arrival at the court?
Institutions responsibilities? : jurisdicial mechanisms
which discourage the denunce or are not effective in
protecting them by the risk ?