Aggravating and Differentiating Factors in the Cases of White and Minority Women on Death Row

Abstract

An examination of the cases of 35 women on death row in 1993 indicated both between-and within-gender differences. Unlike men under sentences of death, the White women on death row were highly likely to have murdered loved ones, most often male husbands or lovers. The most aggravated cases involved White women, portrayed as seductive or lustful, who were implicated in multiple killings of White victims. Overall, the murders committed by women of color were more likely than those by White women to be in the less aggravated categories and to have been motivated by anger or revenge. Most of the murders were intraracial.