NCJ Number
94604
Journal
University of Chicago Law Review Volume: 50 Dated: (1983) Pages: 910-930
Date Published
1983
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Results are presented of a study of 151 homicides that occurred in Chicago in 1981 and involved a victim and an offender, known or suspected, of a different gender.
Abstract
Of these victims, 81 were female, 70, male; 74 percent were black, 20 percent, white. Blacks accounted for 78 percent of the known or suspected primary sexual offenders; whites were responsible for one in six intersexual killings, and offenders with Hispanic surnames were implicated in less than one of every 20 intersexual homicides. Over half of the homicides involved prior intimate or familial relationships, and only 17.5 percent involved killings by strangers or situations where a relationship could not be determined. White males killed females with whom they were intimate twice as frequently as they were killed; whereas, black males were twice as likely to be killed by their female intimates as to kill them. It is suggested that a code of chivalry may prevent the black male from using lethal force on a woman. Weapons other than the gun and knife played a more important role in killings by males than by females. These other instrumentalities, principally physical force, account for about three out of ten intersexual killings. The connections between intimate and other lethal violence are explored, and explanations are offered as to why there are not more victims and offenders of Hispanic origin.