Out of the Blue”

Men Who Murder an Intimate Partner

Bibliographic Data

ID12809641
AuthorsR Emerson Dobash (Kriminologische Zentralstelle, corresponding author), Russell P Dobash (Kriminologische Zentralstelle), Kate Cavanagh (0000-0002-9863-1462, University of Stirling)
Year2009
Volume4
Issue3
Pages194-225
Publication date2009-06-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFeminist Criminology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1557-0851 • E-ISSN: 1557-086X
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1557085109332668
OpenAlexW2059361072
LanguageEN
Citations received32
References cited51

It came “out of the blue” is often said when a man with no known history of criminality kills his intimate partner. This reflects a belief that a “conventional man” without a criminogenic past or a problematic personal history would not commit murder. Casefiles from the Murder in Britain Study are used to compare men with no previous conviction (NoConvict, n = 25) with men with at least one previous conviction prior to the murder (PrevConvict, n = 79). The groups differed in childhood and adulthood with problematic lives and offending among the PrevConvict group and more “conventional” profiles among the NoConvict group but were similar in terms of circumstances at the murder and cognitions about the victim, especially possessiveness, jealousy, separation, empathy and remorse. The similarities challenge the notion that the murder comes “out of the blue” and underscore the relevance of gender and a feminist analysis of IPmurder

Commit · Conviction · Criminal Conviction · Criminology · Empathy · Injury prevention · Jealousy · Medical emergency · Poison control · Political science · Relevance (law · Remorse · Suicide prevention · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse · Human Factors and Ergonomics · Law · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology