Women's bodies between passion and honour. Why the German Criminal Code needs to integrate a gender-specific qualifying characteristic in the criminal section for homicide

The legal discourse and practice regarding the killing of women in Germany was for a long time – even after the Istanbul Convention took effect in 2018 – constructed around a biased perception of the perpetrator and the hegemonic dichotomy of German Leitkultur versus non-European values of ‘migrants failing to integrate’: Perpetrators perceived as ‘people of colour’ or ‘migrants’ were sentenced for homicide due to the killing as honour-related crime whereas ‘white’ (ex)partners as perpetrators were often given a sentence of manslaughter due to the mitigating factor of e.g. separation-induced stress.

The paper refers to German criminal courts' jurisdiction on ‘domestic and/or intimate partner homicide’ and carves out patriarchal, misogynist and racist legal assumptions. It addresses the importance of coining femicide as a distinct criminal offense to implement the requirements of the Istanbul Convention and tackle the broader societal context of femicide. As German courts struggle to identify gender-specific, misogynist motivations for femicide and to consider them in sentencing, the introduction of a woman- and gender-specific qualifying characteristic in the German criminal section for homicide (§ 211 StGB) is core to ensure more consistent prosecution.