Ashley Young’s sentence to life in prison ended the only case involving a female murderer in Athens County in the past five years, but statistically, the county is above the national average for female murderers.
“Males are four times more likely to commit murder than females. It hasn’t changed over the last 20 years,” said Jim Taylor, assistant professor of sociology at Ohio University’s Zanesville campus.
Nationally, men commit 89 percent of murders and women commit 11 percent, Taylor said.
Young is the only woman to be convicted of a murder charge in Athens County since 2007. Five men have been convicted of aggravated murder or murder in the same time period.
That makes Athens County’s percentage slightly higher than the national average, with 16 percent of murders committed by women and 84 percent committed by men in the county.
Taylor said a murder involving a male victim is also more common, making Young’s case with a female murderer and female victim — her stepdaughter Kaylen Young — even more unusual.
Only 2.4 percent of annual murders have a female killer and a female victim, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
In addition to murder, two men in Athens County have been convicted of manslaughter, one of negligent homicide, and one of reckless homicide during the past five years.
Jonathan Bebb was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 2008 for killing his father. Gary Wooten was charged with involuntary manslaughter for allegedly causing the death of Harley Aaron Pruitt in May. His case is still pending.
No other woman has been convicted of a death-related charge since 2007, meaning that Young is the only woman of the other 10 charges against men in Athens County.
“As of recent, there have been more men to commit murder than women,” said Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn.
He said there are also five unsolved murders in the county, and it is impossible to know if men or women committed those crimes.
The numbers lean more toward female murderers in neighboring Hocking County. Since 2007, only three people have been convicted of murder: two men and one woman.
Two of those people are William Inman II and Sandra Inman, who both were convicted of murdering Summer Cook Inman in March 2011.
One man has been convicted of manslaughter, and there are two pending murder cases against men in Hocking County.
Hocking County Prosecutor Laina Fetherolf could not be reached for comment.
Blackburn said his office handles all accused murderers in the same way regardless of gender.
“Everyone is treated the same,” he said. “No one got a better deal.”
Young took a plea agreement with Blackburn’s office and was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. David Tilley took a plea agreement and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for killing his wife in September 2010.
An Athens County jury sentenced Phillip Boler, Abdifatah Abdi and Mohat Osman to 18 years to life in prison each for killing Donnie Putnam in 2009.
Taylor said sociology does not provide an answer as to why men commit more murders than women, but added that there are certain trends.
“Men tend to kill outside of the home,” Taylor said. “Women usually commit murder in the home, and usually domestic violence is involved.”
He added that statistically, women spend more time in the home than men.
“There are no perfect theories for homicide and gender difference,” Taylor said. “We know one factor that does not go away: Poverty always stands out as a common theme.”
ml147009@ohiou.edu
