People are generally shocked whenever they hear of a case in which a woman has committed murder. This is because society sees men as being aggressive and women as being passive. Because men are aggressive, it is understood that they are capable of violence and murder. By contrast, biological differences as well as differences in cultural conditioning seem to indicate that women are incapable of killing. In actuality, there are numerous cases of women who kill. Of course, there are far fewer killers among women than there are among men. In the United States, for example, it is estimated that there are less than half as many female murderers as there are male murderers. In recent years, however, there has been a rising incidence of murders by women. Women who kill rarely do so in cold blood. In this regard, there are a variety of motivations for a woman resorting to the act of murder. One reason that has received attention in the media is pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS), or pre-menstrual tension (PMT), as it is known in England. PMS has been used as a defense in a number of legal cases involving women who kill. This defense is based on the theories of endocrinologist Katherina Dalton, who contends that the emotional anxieties of PMS can cause some women to become violent. However, it may be noted that this idea is highly controversial. Thus, "Dalton's theories are not uncontested: they are not universally accepted medically and certainly not politically."
In recent years, a great deal of attention has been given to wife abuse as a reason for murder. In the past, the legal system in the United States usually failed to help abused women. In fact, "until the late 70's and early 80's, cops rarely made arrests for wife beating because it was assumed that men had the right to control their wives." Because of this factor, many women in abusive relationships were forced to resort to murder "as their last hope at self-defense."...