Adverse Childhood Experiences in Femicide Perpetrators: Does Trauma Type Matter?
Methods: We administered an adapted Philadelphia ACEs questionnaire to perpetrators of femicide (the gender-based killing of a woman or girl), homicide and other violent crimes. Data collection took place in summer 2021 in four carceral institutions in Metropolitan Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Results: All participants (n=208) were cisgender males. Of the respondents, 71 were charged with femicide perpetration, 73 were homicide perpetrators, and 64 had committed a different type of violent crime. We did not observe any significant differences in the mean ACEs scores across groups, although all scores were higher than in the general population. Femicide perpetrators were more likely to witness a rape or sexual assault in their home, and more likely to have experienced being hit, punched or kicked in the home. They were also significantly more likely to witness a shooting or knife attack in the community than homicide perpetrators.
Conclusions: We did not observe any significant differences between the mean ACEs scores of femicide, homicide, and other crime perpetrators. However, femicide perpetrators were more likely to experience specific types of ACEs. Future research should investigate the trauma experienced by femicide perpetrators including type, severity, duration, and age at onset to determine patterns that may differentiate femicide perpetrators from those who commit non-lethal intimate partner violence
Contribution: ACES—and particularly their cumulative dose effect—have been linked to a host of negative health outcomes underscoring the long-lasting negative impacts of harmful childhood experiences on adult functioning. While ACEs are directly linked to non-lethal intimate partner violence perpetration, little is known about how these experiences are operationalized into the perpetration of femicide. This study fill that gap by examining ACEs among femicide perpetrators in support of violence and femicide prevention efforts.