chapter 8

Chapter 8.

THE MURDER BOOK

Intimate Partner Homicide

Prepared by Dr. J.L. Flexon

DEFINITIONS

• Intimate partner homicide is a term used to reflect the killing of a victim by an offender who is either currently or was formerly in a sexual relationship with the victim (Married or unmarried and any sexual orientation)

• Term is thought to be general enough to encompass necessary breadth of relationships

• Uxoricide, or wife killing, for example, leaves out the killing of former wives, homicides of those in de facto marital relationships, and the killing of males by their wives or other sexual partners.

• Spousal homicide, although sometimes the relevant focus depending on the question, again leaves out de facto marital relationships such as common-law marriages, same-sex relationships, and former spouses.

• Domestic homicide may be good for any sexually involved couples who are living together, but then again, it may be confused with any type of homicide that occurs within a family, such as the killing of one’s children, parents, or sibling.

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DATA ON INTIMATE PARTNER HOMICIDE

• Although men are more often the victims of homicides than women, men are less likely than women to be killed by their intimate

partners.

• Nearly a third of female homicide victims and only 5% of male homicide victims are killed by their intimate partners (Paulozzi,

Saltzman, Thompson, et al., 2001).

• According to FBI data on homicides known to the police in 2004, 579 men murdered their wives , common law wives, or ex wives;

149 wives murdered their husbands, common law husbands, or ex husbands.

• Similarly, 445 men murdered their girlfriends, whereas 147 women murdered their boyfriends: men in the United States killed

their female intimate partners approximately 3.5 times as often as women killed their male intimate partners.

• Both victims and offenders tend to be older than those involved in other types of homicide likely reflecting the pattern of men

marrying women who are younger than themselves. Intimate partners who are in relationships with greater age differences, for

the most part, are more at risk for partner committed homicide (Shackelford, 2001).

• Differences by race:

• Rates tend to be highest among African Americans as compared to other racial

• Rates among Native Americans, although lower than African Americans, are higher than whites, and Asians/Pacific

Islanders have the lowest rates (Paulozzi et al., 2001).

• Rates of intimate partner homicide offending for white and Latino women, however, was low at all ages without any

discernible peaks (Block & Christakos, 1995).

U.S. TRENDS

• Between 1976 and 2000, the number of men murdered by their intimate partners dropped

68% from 1,357 men killed in 1976 to 440 male victims in 2000.

• Trend with women also show improvements, but the news is not as good.

• Between 1976 and 1993, the number of women killed by their partners remained

fairly stable, and then in 1993 the number began to drop. In 1993, 1,581 women

were murdered by their partners, and in 2000 there were 1,247: the number of

female victims of intimate partner homicide decreased about 20%, reflecting a less

dramatic drop for female victims as compared to male victims.

• The number of women killed by partners remains higher than the numbers of males

killed by their partners (Rennison, 2003).

COMPARISONS ACROSS THE WORLD

• intimate partner homicide is common in other countries and may be, as a percentage of all homicides, higher in other countries than it is in the United States.

• This does not mean that the rate of intimate partner violence is lower in the United States as the higher percentage of intimate partner violence in other countries is the result of the higher incidents of other types of homicide in the United States.

• Data from countries, including Canada, Australia, Scotland, England/Wales, and India, among others, reveal another difference between these countries and the United States.

• In the United States, the numbers of women who kill their partners is closer to the number of men who kill their partners than in other countries. In other countries, men outnumber women in much greater numbers as offenders in intimate partner homicide.

• In a four-year period in Ontario, Canada, for example, men committed 94% of intimate partner homicides, and women were victims in 93% of the cases. In the United States, men commit closer to 80% of all intimate partner homicide.

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN INTIMATE PARTNER...

• A much larger percentage of female homicide victims as compared with male homicide victims are killed by their intimate partners.

• Women in the United States are more likely to be killed by intimate partners than by any other type of murderer.

• Men and women kill their partners for different reasons:

• Women Killers: women kill their male partners often linked to intimate partner abuse committed by males.

• It is extremely rare for a woman to kill her partner as an end to a long cycle of violence that she has perpetrated against her partner.

• Men Killers: often batter their partners for years before killing them.

• kill their partners in situations where the men are trying to control their intimate partner controlling behavior, which we do not see in the same way among women.

• men are also far more likely than women to kill an estranged partner.

• Men are also more likely to commit familicide or suicide than are women

• It is rare that an intimate partner homicide is committed by more than one person: when there are two offenders of an intimate partner homicide, the second offender is usually an accomplice who has been brought in to help with or commit the murder. When happens it is most likely women employing help.

EXPLANATIONS AND MOTIVATIONS

• The primary motive of most intimate partner homicides is to hurt or control the other

person. These killings often occur in the context of a domestic violence situation.

• Instrumental Gain: There are intimate partner homicides in which the goal is to gain

money or property or perhaps even the custody of one’s children.

• Intimate partner homicide may be motivated by:

• Sexual jealously

• Fear

• Greed

• Anger

• Rage

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WEAPON USE: HOW DO INTIMATE PARTNERS K...

• In the United States overall, firearms are the most common weapon (men & women) when committing IPV.

• From 1981 1998, 59.1% of male victims & 64.1% of female victims of IP homicide were killed with firearms.

• Knives were next, with 35.3% of male victims & 16.1% of female victims killed with a knife.

• It seems female partners use weapons of opportunity, which are more likely to be knives for women than for men. Moreover, when killing male partners, wives were more likely than girlfriends to use firearms.

• NOTE: Knives are more common in intimate partner homicide and sometimes take the lead:

• Example: Chicago (1965 and 1990):

• knives were the most common cause of death (37%)

• followed closely by guns (35%)

• Example: Ontario, Canada data reveal that:

• knives or other sharp instruments stand out as the most common weapon used in intimate partner murder (33% of cases)

• firearms were a close second with 28% of the deaths involving guns,

• 15% of the victims were beaten to death

• 13% were choked to death

THE POTENTIAL OF PUBLIC POLICY TO MAKE...

• Over the past 25 years intimate partner homicide has decreased considerably.

• Resources for battered women are significantly associated with lower rates of women killing their husbands but not the reverse.

• The public policy innovations put in place to protect battered women appear to have been more successful in saving the lives of abusive men than of battered women.

• The reduction in the number of homicides committed by battered women is beneficial because these men’s lives are saved and a number of battered women may avoid incarceration.

• The smaller decrease in men killing their partners remains a curiosity, and there were increases in men killing their African American girlfriends, but not white girlfriends, as AFDC benefits declined.

• Policies:

• Unmarried intimates were also less likely to be killed when domestic violence arrest policies were more aggressive, but aggressive arrest policies did not appear to affect intimate partner homicide by spouses.

• Legal advocacy was connected with fewer killings of white wives by their partners.

• Mandatory arrest policies were linked to fewer deaths of married women of all races, and warrantless arrest policies were associated with decreases in the killing of unmarried male intimates and unmarried white females.

• Education appeared to provide some protection against intimate partner homicide overall, but this did not hold true for African American intimates who were not married when these relationships were examined separately.

INTIMATE PARTNER HOMICIDE IN COURT

• In the past, rules permitted a husband to beat his wife as long as the instrument he used

had a circumference that was smaller than the circumference of his thumb. (This practice

is the origin for the phrase “rule of thumb.”)

• The killing of a wife by her husband was not seen as a horrible crime, example, if a man

discovered his wife was having an affair and killed her as a result, the killing was viewed

as justified and not always prosecuted in some places.

• Example: Toronto, Canada. Individuals accused of killing their partners were significantly

more likely to be convicted than those accused of killing nonpartners.

• Individuals who kill their partners are less likely to be charged with first-degree

murder than those who kill nonintimate partners.

• Those who are accused of killing partners are more likely to plead guilty than those

who kill nonintimate partners.

BATTERED WOMEN’S SYNDROME IN COURT

• In the United States, self-defense (the protection of one’s own life) is an affirmative defense to murder.

• In most U.S. jurisdictions, the law of self-defense states that an individual may use reasonable force against another when the individual reasonably believes the other person is threatening her or him with imminent and unlawful harm.

• Battered women’s syndrome is a psychological state akin to post-traumatic stress syndrome, which, in some cases, may explain why a woman kills her abusive husband.

• It is important to know that battered women’s syndrome is not a defense to murder.

• More than 30 states have allowed expert testimony on battered women’s syndrome to be introduced in court cases.

• Testimony is sometimes introduced as mitigating circumstances that may explain why a woman would see no other option but to kill her partner and a jury may consider a woman’s abuse in determining if she is guilty and what she is guilty of when she kills an abusive partner.

LINKS

• You can access a National Institute of Justice publication on intimate partner

homicide at http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/jr000250.pdf. This is a 56 page

publication with several informative articles by leading researchers and the reading

level is quite accessible.

• An eleven page publication on intimate partner violence is available from the Bureau

of Justice Statistics at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ipv.pdf. It was published

in 2000 so the data are a little older.

VIDEO

• Published on Jun 20, 2012

• Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant—but preventable—public health problem.

IPV includes physical violence, sexual violence, threats of physical or sexual violence,

and psychological aggression (including stalking and coercive tactics) by a current or

former intimate partner. IPV may occur among cohabitating or non-cohabitating romantic

or sexual partners and among opposite or same sex couples. The term "intimate partner

violence" describes physical, sexual, or psychological harm caused by a current or former

partner or spouse.

This session of Grand Rounds explored prevention efforts aimed at reducing the

occurrence of intimate partner violence through the promotion of healthy, respectful,

nonviolent relationships at the individual, relationship, community, and societal levels .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y1WuieYXIw