Female Intimate Partner Homicide Research Articles

Exploring the Difference Between Male and Female Intimate Partner Homicides

This research examines the role of situational factors in differentiating between male- and female-perpetrated intimate partner homicide. Applying concepts from Luckenbill’s theory of homicide as a situated transaction, an intimate partner homicide is seen as an amorphous event where the role of offender and victim emerge during the transaction. When adopting this framework, it is possible to treat the sex of the offender as a dependent variable and examine situational factors that may differentiate between male and female intimate partner homicide offenders. The data used in this analysis come from the lethal sample of the Chicago Women’s Health Risk Study, 1995 to 1998. These data consist of records for 85 heterosexual intimate homicide incidents that occurred in Chicago in 1995 and 1996. Logistic regression analyses indicate that the presence of a prehomicide injury and whether the offender used a knife differentiate between male and female offenders. Implications for future research are discussed.

Do Laws Restricting Access to Firearms by Domestic Violence Offenders Prevent Intimate Partner Homicide?

Domestic violence imposes a large cost on society. The authors exploit state variation in timing to examine the impact of three types of law on intimate partner homicides. These laws restrict access to firearms by individuals who are subject to a restraining order or have been convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor or allow law enforcement officers to confiscate firearms at a domestic violence scene. The authors find that female intimate partner homicide rates decline 7% after a state passes a restraining order law. They find no effect from the domestic violence misdemeanor or confiscation laws.

Women as the Aggressors in Intimate Partner Homicide in Houston, 1980s to 1990s

Objective: The purpose of this study was to inform the ongoing quest for efficacious treatment of domestically violent women by (a) describing their representation in cases of intimate partner homicide over the period of 1985-1999 in Houston, Texas, and (b) by utilizing a measure known as the spousal sex ratio of killing (SROK), determining variation in this female offending by race/ethnicity and whether the relationship was registered or defacto. Method: Secondary data from the Houston police department homicide division murder logs and the U.S. Bureau of the Census were analyzed to determine the incidence and proportion of women's perpetration of intimate partner homicide. Results: Throughout the fifteen-year period of this study, women were over 40 percent of the offenders in lethal domestic assaults. Both victims and offenders in these intimate partner incidents were disproportionately Black. When comparing the sex ratios of killing by racial/ethnic subgroups, Black women were equally (or more) likely than Black men to be the perpetrators of intimate domestic homicide. Among non-Hispanic Whites (including Asians, others), there were 63 female intimate partner homicide offenders for every 100 male offenders. Within the small number of cases involving Hispanic couples, women were much more likely to be the aggressors in intimate partner homicide in the latter time period of this investigation. For both Blacks and Whites women were more likely to be the perpetrators in non-marital dyads. Conclusion: Implications of these findings for criminal justice and social service practitioners are discussed.