NCJ Number
215968
Journal
Homicide Studies Volume: 10 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2006 Pages: 279-292
Date Published
November 2006
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This study examined the role of situational factors in distinguishing between male-perpetrated and female-perpetrated intimate-partner homicide.
Abstract
Injury inflicted by the intimate partner in the year prior to the homicide was a situational factor that distinguished female homicide cases from male homicides, along with the use of a knife as the weapon of choice for female offenders. Both of these findings support the theoretical concept that the killing of male intimate partners by their female partners is linked to defensive reactions related to prior abuse by the male partner. Although not rising to the level of statistical significance, the impact of "drug/alcohol use," "offender attempted suicide," "incident occurred at home," "late at night," and "offender used a gun" were all in the expected directions. Data used in this analysis came from the Chicago Women's Health Risk Study, 1995 to 1998. This study was designed to assess women's issues that resulted from domestic violence. A total of 87 intimate-partner homicides that occurred in Chicago in the years 1995 and 1996 were included in the Chicago Women's Health Risk Study. Same-sex intimate homicides were excluded from the analysis because of the small sample size. The final sample consisted of 85 cases of heterosexual intimate homicides. There were 57 male homicide offenders and 28 female homicide offenders.The dependent variable was the offender's gender. Several independent variables were examined as features of the homicides. 2 tables, 5 notes, and 52 references