There are men who kill women and, for that reason, the researchers focus on to find out what kind of men they are and what type of women they kill, to try to stem the murders of a couple who, in Spain, despite a low prevalence compared with the international context, to cause much social alarm. “In addition to giving answer to the why and the how, this kind of studies allow us to know who murdered his partner, establishing typologies that contradict the idea that the perpetrators of partner (and slayer in particular) constitute a homogeneous group”, explained in one of the two recent articles that have been published by members of the Team in-Depth Review of Killings of Gender in the Ministry of Interior.
There are press conferences; published in peer-reviewed journals and discuss the reports in congresses such as that of Forensic Psychology that has been held this weekend in Granada, which has been attended by several of the members of the group, among which stands out the lieutenant colonel of the Civil Guard and the doctor of Psychology Jose Luis Gonzalez Alvarez and Juan José López-Ossorio, of the National Police, also a doctor of Psychology and in the study group.
The last two articles have been the Taxonomy of the homicides of women in intimate relationships and in-depth Review of homicides of women in relationships couple in Spain. In the first, highlights the difficulty of anticipating many of the murders of a couple and it is thought more convenient to study the phenomenon from the “ecological model” rather than the “gender perspective”. In this article, also signed by researchers from the University of Malaga, we take into account not only the physical superiority of man and the patriarchal structure of the society, but also variables “and personal context” to try to explain the phenomenon. In addition, it begins by highlighting that, from the point of view of criminal, gender violence is a phenomenon of “low-prevalence”, especially when compared with the majority of the countries.
In Taxonomy is reviewed the scientific literature published on the profiles of these killers all over the world and in Spain, and, for example, highlights that 34% of the homicides followed by the suicide of the murderer. “In these cases there is usually a strong association between depression, ideas of suicide and homicide of the partner, suggesting the need to join efforts from the field of health and safety”, explains. Previous attempts at suicide are often a good indicator, since they give signals that they are not concerned about the consequences of the crime. That data is valuable to improve the tools of prediction of risk, say the researchers, who insist on the mental problems of several of the murderers. In fact, it is the aspect in which it sees a possibility of clear improvement.
The researchers are now analyzing the data obtained from the interviews with more than 180 murders and the environments of the victim, they believe very difficult to arrive at a perfect estimate of risk. “Those cases without a history or without a known history, perhaps beyond our ability to pre-emptive, and management. Precisely, the absence of indicators prior is one of the main problems in the prevention of these murders,” they add. That is, all those cases where there has been no complaint prior, does not mean there is always been abuse.
The article ends with some pessimism about the possibility of foreseen: “The anticipation of infrequent events (such as the murder of a couple) is complicated and is subject to a high level of error, perhaps a similar phenomenon to the one described by Taleb under the name black swan to refer to unlikely events with major consequences, whose explanations subsequently do not take into account the random and unpredictable just looking to fit in a perfect model”.
In the second article, the researchers justify the need to create a group that delves deeply into the study of the killings and try and find out why 70% of the cases, the victims did not report before. A team of police, psychologists, forensic scientists and criminologists as those that exist in other countries.
In a few months, it will have advanced in the analysis of data from the more than 180 interviews with the killers in the prisons since, for terms of three ministries, launched the group under the PP Government. For now, the only certainty is that there will still be those black swans unpredictable, although there has also been progress in the possibility of improving certain predictors of Viogen, the tool that lists the risk of the victims and that it can fail, as has been seen recently in Castellón, where it refused to grant a mother an order of protection and her ex-partner ended up killing her children and committing suicide.
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