Examining Constructions of Perpetrators and Victims in Early Twentieth Century Canadian Newspaper Accounts of Femicides

Abstract

This article examines how spousal femicides were framed in Ontario newspapers in the first decade of the twentieth century. Newspaper accounts served as a primary source of information, understandings, and perspectives on crime, criminality, and the law. Accounts of intimate killings presented the events as ‘news worthy’ and simultaneously sought to minimise challenges to patriarchal values in marriage. Media coverage employed an individualised model of crime and focused on perpetrators as non-normal (failed) or abnormal men. Intemperance, immigration status, and social class were used to ‘other’ perpetrators. Victim blaming was relatively uncommon except in cases of female infidelity.