Typology of Intimate Partner Homicide

Abstract

Fifteen inmates from Ayalon prison, a maximum-security prison in Israel, who were convicted of murder, attempted murder, or manslaughter of their female intimate partner, have participated in a study designed to examine integrated variables-personal, interpersonal, and environmental-familial-connected with this phenomenon. Analyses of the in-depth interviews demonstrate that despite the different motivations the perpetrators displayed with regard to the murder, they share some common themes. On the basis of these themes, three primary types of female intimate partner murderers have been identified; each of them represents a personal narrative as follows: the betrayed, the abandoned, and the tyrant. The proposed typology might be used for establishing a common language among researchers, scholars, and workers in this field. It can also contribute to the existing clinical tools in terms of prediction, prevention, and treatment initiatives that currently focus on violence.

Risk Factors of Female Intimate Partner and Non-Intimate Partner Homicides

“…Elisha et al, (2010) also identified three types of IPH through the qualitative assessment of 15 inmates in Israel (10 were convicted of murder, 3 of manslaughter, and 2 of attempted murder). In their typology, the betrayed husband killed his partner after discovering her ongoing sexual betrayal, which led to their family breakup; the abandoned obsessive lover murdered his intimate partner following her intention to leave him; and the tyrant murdered his intimate partner following an ongoing confrontation with her, which gradually escalated until he decided to kill her as a way of triumphing over her.…”

“…In this respect, it would be interesting to analyze other variables in greater detail, for instance, the psychological profile by means of specific psychometric tools (e.g., for personality disorders) (Loinaz, Ortiz-Tallo, & Ferragut, 2012). These assessment limitations prevented us from analyzing typological proposals, as others have done (Dixon et al, 2008;Elisha et al, 2010). Recent studies (Debowska, Boduszek, Dhingra, Kola, & Meller-Prunska, 2015;Debowska, Boduszek, & Willmott, in press) also emphasize the weight of childhood exposure to violence in the development of cognitive distortions, and dating sexual violence-supportive attitudes among different types of offenders, including homicide offenders.…”

“…It has also been documented that the major risk factor for IPH is prior domestic violence (Campbell, Glass, Sharps, Laughon, & Bloom, 2007). Jealousy, the woman's desire to leave the man, and control seem to be the most common motivations for female IPH (Elisha, Idisis, Timor, & Addad 2010).…”

“…Moreover, 82.9% of cases showed elements of planning, such that most did not occur "out of the blue" as has been hypothesized by others (e.g., Dobash, Dobash, & Cavanagh, 2009). Elisha et al (2010) also found that "contrary to the impression, some of the participants attempted to generate during the interviews, most of the homicide incidents were not impulsive, unplanned, or uncontrolled" (p. 512). However, these authors also note that not all cases included previous violence or signs of disturbed behavior and, therefore, considering other risk factors than those present in tools such the DA is needed (i.e., desire for general control, expressions of despair, depression, alienation, and isolation), an aspect also highlighted by Nicolaidis et al (2003), that proposed consider the lethality risk of women anywhere along the spectrum of abusive relationships, not only the most severe abuse.…”

Taxonomía de los Homicidios de Mujeres en las Relaciones de Pareja

“…A pesar de la dificultad de la comparación entre los distintos estudios, por la disparidad en la metodología de investigación utilizada, los datos coinciden en señalar que el HCP es un fenómeno complejo y multidimensional (Dobash, Dobash, Cavanagh y Medina-Ariza, 2007; Johnson, Eriksson, Mazerolle y Wortley, 2017). En muchos casos no aparece un rastro de violencia anterior en la relación o signos de alteraciones psicológicas o conductuales en el homicida (Cobo, 2007;Contreras, 2014;Dutton y Kerry, 2002;Elisha, Idisis, Timor y Addad, 2010;Nicolaidis et al, 2003;Stith, Smith, Penn y Ward, 2004).…”