NCJ Number
240713
Journal
Aggression and Violent Behavior Volume: 17 Issue: 6 Dated: November/December 2012 Pages: 553-564
Date Published
December 2012
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This study examined the premise that femicide is not discrete from other manifestations of violence against women.
Abstract
Based on in-depth interviews conducted in Israel with 18 violent men and 18 men convicted of murdering their female partners, the study examines the validity of the concept which holds that, in terms of motive and emotional dynamics, female partner homicide ("femicide") is not discrete from other manifestations of violence against a female partner. Findings show that whereas non-lethal violence usually takes place spontaneously, and under diverse circumstances for the purpose of achieving control over the woman, the circumstances surrounding murder are far more distinctive; and in the majority of cases lethal violence is not a spontaneous, but rather a planned and premeditated act motivated by deep despair, which leads to the desire to obliterate another person, even at the price of self-destruction. The authors suggest that homicide of an intimate female partner is a discrete phenomenon, which differs from non-lethal violence against women in terms of the emotions that trigger it, the circumstances that lead up to it, and the state of mind that characterizes it. (Published Abstract)