Over the past two decades, femicide—the gender-based killing of women or girls—has become an issue of international concern. Yet relatively little data on perpetrators exist. Current research primarily focuses on individual risk factors with less attention on community and societal factors. This conversation will draw on a study of femicide which analyzed the extent to which crime perpetrators experience and perceive social punishment (exclusion/withdrawal of social capital).

Within a social network, individuals trust one another not to violate behavioral norms; otherwise, offenders can expect consequences and social isolation. Yet crime and violence persist even within tight social networks. We will discuss and consider two primary social capital related explanations for the incidence of violent crime: a deficit of social capital and the perversion of social capital. The social capital deficit approach suggests the absence of key moral referees in the social environments of perpetrators whereas perverse social capital may incentivize violent crime to establish and maintain social connections.

We measured social capital pre- and post-incarceration among 208 male perpetrators of violent crime (femicide, homicide, and non-lethal violence). Our data show a lack of social punishment for femicide compared to other crimes, indicating some degree of social legitimization of femicide. These findings support the development of community-level interventions to prevent femicide  .

Maya FarrHenderson is presenting a summary presentation of her work, “Perceptions of Social Capital Before and After the Perpetration of Femicide, Homicide, and Other Serious Crimes: Evidence from Argentina” co-authored by Martín Hernán Di Marco and Dabney P. Evans.