10.

1177/1524838003253875
TRAUMA,
Aldridge, Browne
VIOLENCE,
/ PERPETRATORS
& ABUSE / July
OF2003 ARTICLE
SPOUSAL HOMICIDE

PERPETRATORS OF SPOUSAL HOMICIDE

A Review

MARI L. ALDRIDGE
Her Majestys Prison Service Headquarters

KEVIN D. BROWNE
University of Birmingham

It has been argued that individuals who engage in spouse abuse increase their vio-
lence toward their partners, which can culminate in the death of either the as-
saulter or the victim. The aim of this review is to identify risk factors that determine
whether an abusive relationship will end in eventual death. An extensive search re-
vealed 22 empirical research studies on risk factors for spousal homicide. The cir-
cumstances of spousal homicide are described and salient risk factors are
highlighted. In the United Kingdom, 37% of all women were murdered by their
current or former intimate partner compared to 6% of men. The most common
cause of an intimate partners death in England and Wales was being attacked with
a sharp implement or being strangled. By contrast, the most common cause in the
United States for spousal homicide was being shot. Nine major risk factors are
found that may help predict the probability of a partner homicide and prevent fu-
ture victims.

Key words: spousal homicide, spousal assault, risk factors

FOR THE PAST THREE DECADES spousal PREVALENCE OF SPOUSAL HOMICIDE

abuse has been researched vigorously; however
the most severe form of violencethe killing of
a spousehas not received an equal amount of
attention. Recent research has focused on the
prevalence of spouse abuse, trends over time,
the links between spousal abuse and spousal
homicide, and risk factors. This review is based
mainly on North American research, although
where it exists, Australian and United Kingdom
research is highlighted. The aim of this review is
to discover which characteristics and risk fac-
tors are present when spousal homicide occurs.
The prevalence of spousal homicide in Eng-
land and Wales indicates that 37% of all women
killed were murdered by their current or former
partner or lover. This constituted 92 victims. In
comparison, the total number of all men mur-
dered by their current or former partner or lover
was 6%. This represents 27 victims (Home Of-
fice Statistics, 2000).
The ratio of male-to-female spousal homicide
was calculated by Wilson and Daly (1992b),
who found that for England and Wales the sex

TRAUMA, VIOLENCE, & ABUSE, Vol. 4, No. 3, July 2003 265-276

DOI: 10.1177/1524838003253875
2003 Sage Publications

265

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 266 TRAUMA, VIOLENCE, & ABUSE / July 2003

The prevalence of ratio of killing (SROK) KEY POINTS OF THE

spousal homicide in was 23 (i.e., for every 100 RESEARCH REVIEW
England and Wales men who kill their wives,
For every 100 men who kill their wives, 23
indicates that 37% 23 women will kill their women kill their husbands in the United King-
of all women killed husbands). It appears that dom, compared to 31 in Canada, and 75 in the
were murdered by such a calculation over United States.
their current or the past 8 years has not An extensive literature search of all available in-
former partner radically changed. Com- formation revealed 22 empirical research studies
that identify risk factors for spousal homicide.
or lover. This parative studies revealed
Previous domestic violence, childhood victim of
constituted 92 that Canada had a SROK family violence, cohabiting, large age disparity,
victims. In of 31, and for the United drug and alcohol abuse, sexual jealousy, threat of
comparison, the States it was 75 (Wilson & separation, stalking, and personality disorder are
total number of all Daly, 1992b). The large major risk factors.
men murdered by SROK in the United States The use of a sharp implement is the most com-
mon method of killing an intimate partner in
their current or former is a phenomenon that re- England and Wales, whereas guns were most of-
partner or lover was mains unexplained; Wil- ten used in the United States.
6%. This represents son and Daly (1992b) ar- Strangulation was another frequent cause of
27 victims. gued that the greater death for female homicide victims in England
availability of guns, the and Wales but not in the United States.
Urgent research is required to determine why
general convergence of violent inclinations, or
some relationships end in homicide whereas oth-
recent social change are not sufficient to explain ers are not lethally violent to help in the predic-
the large differences between the United States tion and prevention of spousal homicide.
and other victim sex ratios in the countries they
examined.
Although generally, homicide is often con-
centrated in the lower classes (Cooney, 1997), However, they highlighted that the decline in
and the killing of a spouse cuts across all social partner homicides by female perpetrators in the
and ethnic lines (Browne, 1993). The vast major- United States was not evident for male
ity of female-perpetrated homicides occur in the perpetrators.
home, often in reaction to long-term abuse (Pe- In England and Wales, the number of male
terson, 1999) and as an act of self-defense (Daly perpetrators of spousal homicide also shows no
& Wilson, 1988). This contrasts with men who evidence of change. Although variations appear
will often track down their partner and kill year on year, these changes are relatively small
them in response to their attempts to finish the and are often due to changes in definitions and
relationship (Wilson & Daly, 1992a). the methods used for collecting these figures.
Therefore the decline in the number of men kill-
ing their current or former partner or lover dur-
TRENDS IN PARTNER HOMICIDE ing 1995 (42%) compared to 1999/2000 (37%)
As mentioned, Home Office Statistics (2000) should be viewed cautiously (Home Office Sta-
indicated that for England and Wales the total tistics, 2000).
percentage of all men (who were killed by their Researchers (Dugan, Nagin, & Rosenfeld,
current or former partner or lover) was 6%. This 1999) argued that a decline in the number of inti-
figure has decreased over the period since 1995 mate partner homicides perpetrated by women
by 3%. Reductions have also been evident in is primarily due to a reduction in the exposure
other countries. For example in the United to abusive or violent relationships. Exposure re-
States, Browne and Williams (1989), using data duction, they argued, is a consequence of the
from the FBI to examine national homicide changing living arrangements of men and
rates, found that there had been more than a women, the improving economic status of
25% decline in the rates of women killing their women, and the greater availability of domestic
male partners during the period 1976 to 1984. violence services. Dugan et al. (1999) continued

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 Aldridge, Browne / PERPETRATORS OF SPOUSAL HOMICIDE
that improvements in womens status in society
creates greater opportunities and resources,
which then reduces their economic dependence
on men. As a result, they argued women are less
likely to resort to using lethal methods as a
means of, what they term, self-help.
Previously, Browne and Williams (1989) ex-
amined the effects of the availability of domestic
violence services and changes in legislation on
intimate partner homicide rates. They found
that policy changes and greater service avail-
ability were significantly associated with a
lower rate of married women killing their
husbands.
LINKS BETWEEN SPOUSAL ASSAULT
AND SPOUSAL HOMICIDE
There is a large body of evidence that links
spousal homicide to domestic violence. These
links have been consistent over at least the past
10 years and across all countries examined. Men
often kill their wives after subjecting them to
lengthy periods of coercive abuse and assaults;
however, it is extremely rare that this is the case
when men are the victims (Wilson & Daly,
1992a). Campbell (1992) for example, found of
the 28 women killed by a husband, boyfriend, or
estranged husband or boyfriend, that at least 18
(64%) were known to have been physically
abused by the man prior to the murder.
Similar work by Stout (1993) found that 25%
of male perpetrators reported their partner was
previously the victim of physical abuse. Fur-
thermore, Moracco, Runyan, and Butts (1998)
found of the 586 femicides (killing of women) in
North Carolina that occurred between 1991 and
1993, that 76.5% of partner femicides were pre-
ceded by physical assault. McFarlane, Camp-
bell, Wilt, Sachs, Ulrich, and Xus (1999) work
shows equally high rates; 67% of the femicide
informants and 71% of the attempted femicide
victims confirmed that the perpetrator had
physically abused the woman within the year
prior to the violent incident. In light of these em-
pirical studies it appears that a large percentage
of men who kill have been violent to their cur-
rent or former partner on a previous occasion
the number ranges from 25% to over 76%.
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267
However, Gelles (1991) contested the idea
that violence is a continuum that spans from
mild to the most severe and deadly forms of vio-
lence. He argued that homicide is a distinct
form of behaviour that requires a distinct expla-
nation (p. 69). He continued that there are a
number of discontinuities in the empirical data
that can explain some, but not all, types of
abuse, violence, and homicide. He argued that
some theories (sociobiological and evolution-
ary) can only be used to explain infanticide, ho-
micide, and the more severe cases of abuse.
However, less severe forms of violence and
abuse, he continued, need separate interpreta-
tions and can be only explained by using alter-
native theories (learning theory, ecological the-
ory, sociocultural theory, and structural theory).
OTHER RISK FACTORS FOR
SPOUSAL HOMICIDE
The literature on the risk factors for spousal
homicide has been examined thoroughly in
some areas whereas others remain relatively
sparse. As noted by many authors, there are ob-
vious difficulties when trying to collate data
when the key witness to the homicide is the vic-
tim herself. As a result research data has often
come from police reports, collateral informa-
tion, witnesses, and occasionally the perpetra-
tors themselves, all of whom have different
agendas when collecting or giving information.
Nevertheless, 22 empirical studies on risk fac-
tors for spousal homicide have been found.
These studies identify eight more factors in ad-
dition to previous domestic violence.
Witness of Family Violence and/or
Victim of Family Violence
The accumulated evi- The accumulated
dence suggests that evidence suggests
many spousal homicide that many spousal
perpetrators witnessed homicide perpetrators
violence in the child- witnessed violence in
hood home or were di- the childhood home or
rectly victimized by were directly
family members when victimized by family
t h e y w e re c h i l d re n . members when they
Stout (1993) found al- were children.
268 TRAUMA, VIOLENCE, & ABUSE / July 2003
TABLE 1: Empirical Research Studies That Identify Risk Factors for Spousal Homicide
Risk Factor
Witness of family violence and/or
victim of family violence (static)
Married vs. de facto relationships
(dynamic)
Age disparity (static)
Drug and alcohol abuse (dynamic)
Sexual jealousy (dynamic)
Separation/threat of separation and
length of separation (dynamic)
Stalking (dynamic)
Personality disorder (static)
Previous domestic violence (static)
NOTE: MCMI-II = Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory, Version 2.
Reference
Hamberger and Hastings (1991): Investigated personality and family of origin differences
among three groups of domestically violent men and a nonviolent comparison group.
Stout (1993) Missouri, United States: A cross-sectional survey design was used to gather
data through interviewing 23 incarcerated men.
Fagan, Stuart, and Hanson (1983) United States: 270 interviews with victims of domestic
violence. The sample was drawn from 5 projects in 4 cities offering counselling or shelter
services.
Browne, Williams, and Dutton (1999) United States: Looked at trends in partner homicide from
1980-1995. National data on partner homicide was drawn from annual incident files.
Homicide offending rates were calculated using gender and age specific incidents and
respective demographic information.
Mercy and Saltzman (1989) USA: Examined patterns and trends in homicide between marriage
partners in the United States for 1976 through 1985 using data from FBI Supplemental
Homicide Reports. They identified 16,595 spouse homicides during that period.
Wilson and Daly (1993): Looked at frequencies of homicide victimization of wives and
husbands, while cohabiting and when separated, reported for all spousal homicides known
to the police in Canada (1974-1990), New South Wales, Australia (1968-1986), and in
Chicago (1965-1990).
Wilson, Daly, and Wright (1993): Analysis of spousal homicide samples from United States,
Canada, Australia, and United Kingdom on sex ratio of killing.
Stout (1993) United States: (see previous)
Kellerman et al. (1993) United States: Researched the connection between murder in the
home and the ownership of a gun.
Sharps et al. (2001) United States: Telephone interviews were conducted in ten cities in the
United States. Information was gained about relationship violence and alcohol use by
femicide victims, attempted femicide survivors, and their perpetrators. Femicide/attempted
femicide victims (n = 380).
Rosenbaum (1990): Twelve couples in cases of murder-suicide were compared with 24
couples in cases of homicide during the period 1978-1987 in Albuquerque, New Mexico,
United States. Data were obtained from police, the courts, hospital records, and interviews
with friends and family of the deceased.
Wilson and Daly (1993): Analysis of spousal homicide samples from the United States,
Canada, Australia, and United Kingdom.
Wilson, Johnson, and Daly (1995) Canada: Demographic patterns of risk of lethal and nonlethal
violence against wives were compared utilizing Statistics Canadas Homicide Survey (1974-
1992) and Violence Against Women Survey (1993). Comparisons were based on 1,429
uxoricide victims and 8,385 interviewees of whom 277 had been assaulted by their
husbands within the past 12 months.
Wallace (1986) New South Wales, Australia: Information taken from police homicide files
during 1968-1981 surrounding 217 women slain by their husbands.
Wilson and Daly (1993) United States, Canada, Australia, and United Kingdom: (see previous)
Wilson, Daly, and Wright (1993) Canada: An epidemiological analysis of demographic risk
patterns were researched for spousal homicides.
Tjaden and Thoennes (1998) United States: Conducted the National Violence Against Women
Survey and calculated the number of women who were stalked.
McFarlane et al. (1999) United States: An 18-item stalking inventory and interviews with
knowledgeable proxy informants and victims of femicide (n = 141) and attempted femicide
(n = 65) were used.
Moracco et al. (1998) North Carolina, United States: Researched 586 femicides in North
Carolina between 1991 and 1993.
Showalter, Bonnie, and Roddy (1980) United States: Participants (n = 11) were taken from a
forensic psychiatry clinic that evaluates persons who are involved in judicial proceedings in
which their psychological functioning may be relevant to the legal outcome.
Hart, Dutton, and Newlove (1993): Conducted a series of studies on the relationship between
borderline personality organization and the frequency and severity of a mans physical
abuse.
Dutton and Kerry (1999) Canada: Using MCMI-II and personality disorder examination, 90
interviews were conducted and the inspection of institutional records on incarcerated
prisoners.
All these studies identified previous violence between the victim and the offender as a
frequent precursor to homicide.
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 Aldridge, Browne / PERPETRATORS OF SPOUSAL HOMICIDE
most 40% of wife killers had witnessed a parent
(largely the mother) being assaulted by her male
partner.
This risk factor is not exclusive to perpetra-
tors of spousal homicide; 2 decades of research
on nonlethal assaults by men against their fe-
male partners also show a sharply increased
risk of assaultiveness among men who have ex-
perienced or witnessed physical abuse in child-
hood (Fagan, Stewart, & Hanson, 1983;
Hamberger & Hastings, 1991). Browne, Wil-
liams, and Dutton (1999) made the link by sug-
gesting that severe physical abuse and neglect
in childhood is a possible pathway leading to
partner homicides by men.
This overlap extends further to include gen-
eral violence; rigorous empirical analyses of
cases involving substantiated reports of severe
childhood physical abuse, sexual abuse, or ne-
glect have been detected by those who display
juvenile or adult criminal behavior (based on of-
ficial arrest records). As a result, researchers
note that those children who are physically
abused have a substantially higher rate of arrest
for violence than children who are subjected to
any other type of abuse (Widom, 1989; Widom &
Ames, 1994).
Married vs. De Facto
Relationships
Research suggests that women incur a much
greater risk of lethal and nonlethal violence in
common-law relationships than within mar-
riage.1 Furthermore, Wilson and Daly (1993)
found that Canadian wives in registered unions
incur a substantially elevated risk when sepa-
rated, despite their decreased availability to
their assailant. For uxoricides (wife murders)
occurring between 1974 and 1990, the rates were
5.6 per million resident wives and 28.6 per mil-
lion separated wives. It was further found that
the younger wives incurred the greatest risk in
registered marriages in Canada. The same was
true in the United States (Mercy & Saltzman,
1989).
Researchers (Barr, 1993; Rasmussen, 1981)
have speculated as to why this may be the case
and have argued that it may be due to common-
law relationships more often being childless
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269
than registered unions. They argued that joint
offspring are said to increase marital solidarity
whereas childlessness is associated with marital
conflict and divorce.
Age Disparity
Research conducted in Canada (Wilson, Daly,
& Wright, 1993) examined the age differences
between couples and found that young women
were most at risk of being killed when their hus-
bands were more than 10 years older than them.
For middle-aged women (aged 35 to 54 years) in
common-law relationships there was also an in-
creased risk of being killed if there was an age
difference of 10 years or more. This age discrep-
ancy also featured in husband killing; risk in-
creased when husbands were more than 10
years older or younger than their female
partner.
Drug and Alcohol Abuse
Stout (1993) interviewed incarcerated men in
Missouri and found 48% of the men had con-
sumed alcohol at the time of the fatal incident.
In comparison, 22% of the men believed their
partner had consumed alcohol prior to being
killed. Furthermore, 4 of the 23 men inter-
viewed had a drug problem, and 44% believed
their partner had a drug problem at the time she
was killed.
Additional research (Kellerman et al., 1993)
supported the argument that illicit drug use and
alcoholism has an impact on the risk of homi-
cide. Sharps, Campbell, Campbell, Gary, and
Webster (2001) investigated the relationship be-
tween alcohol use by femicide victims, at-
tempted femicide survivors, and their perpetra-
tors. They found that the problem drinking of
perpetrators was associated with an eightfold
increase in partner abuse and a twofold in-
creased risk of femicide and attempted
femicide.
Sexual Jealousy
Dobash and Dobash (1984), when interview-
ing wives who had been assaulted by their hus-
bands, found that a large percentage of the
 270 TRAUMA, VIOLENCE, & ABUSE / July 2003
women said the motive of their husbands as-
sault was due to possessiveness and sexual jeal-
ousy. This theme is also present in spousal ho-
micide cases, for example, Wilson, Johnson, and
Daly (1995) found in their uxoricide cases that a
large majority of the murders were evidently
precipitated by the hus-
Researchers argue band accusing the wife of
that any threat or sexual infidelity (whether
suggestion that a with reasonable grounds
wife might leave for suspicion or not).
the relationship is Englander (1997) ex-
extremely dangerous amined jealous killings
for the woman; and found that 83% in-
leaving or attempting volved men killing their
to leave a spouses; there were no re-
relationship was ported cases in which a
found to provoke a woman killed a man be-
great deal of cause she was jealous.
potentially lethal Rosenbaum (1990) ar-
violence on the part gued that the presence of
of the husband. jealousyin particular
morbid jealousyis the
most important feature in spousal homicide
cases. A small proportion of the men who kill
their wives are found unfit to stand trial or
not guilty by reason of insanity as they are of-
ten deemed to be suffering from a psychiatric
condition called morbid jealousy. This condi-
tion was defined by Mowat in 1966 and is based
on symptoms that include an obsession with
suspected infidelity and a tendency to invoke
bizarre evidence in support of this suspicion.
However, most men who kill in a jealous rage
are not considered insane. Not only is jealousy
considered normal, but so too is violent jeal-
ousy, at least if perpetrated by a man and in the
heat of passion (Wilson & Daly, 1992a). Wilson
and Daly (1992a) use the term proprietariness in-
stead of sexual jealousy to describe the mind-set
of such violent behaviors. Proprietariness, they
argued, suggests not only a desire for exclusive
control of the woman but also a feeling of enti-
tlement of that control.
Separation/Threat of Separation
Gillespie (1989) commented that studies of
domestic homicides show that the point at
which a man most often kills a woman is when it
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appears that the woman is abandoning him,
emotionally or physically (p. 151). Researchers
argue that any threat or suggestion that a wife
might leave the relationship is extremely dan-
gerous for the woman; leaving or attempting to
leave a relationship was found to provoke a
great deal of potentially lethal violence on the
part of the husband (Wilson, Daly & Wright,
1993; Englander, 1997).
Englander (1997) found that the abuser often
understood the victims desire to leave the rela-
tionship and reminded her frequently that if she
did, he would track her down and kill her and/
or their children. Wilson and Daly (1993) found
that declarations such as If I cant have you, no-
body can were frequent features of such cases.
A cross-cultural study (Wilson & Daly, 1993)
gave resoundingly similar results; wives in all
three countries (Canada, Australia, and United
States) incurred a substantially increased risk
when they were separated from their partner.
Wallace (1986) reported that 45% of the
women murdered by their husbands in New
South Wales, Australia, had left their killers or
were in the process of leaving. This high inci-
dence of estrangement among wife killings is
not reflected in husband killings. Only 3 of 79
murdered husbands were killed when the cou-
ple was separated. Therefore it appears that sep-
aration is not just a correlate of serious marital
conflict, in general, but has a particular rele-
vance to lethal violence against wives (Wilson &
Daly, 1993).
There is also some evidence that sublethal as-
saults increase on separation. Ellis (1987) found
that separated women who had suffered abuse
prior to the separation were even more seriously
abused afterward. One perspective on the moti-
vational basis for abandonment-precipitated
uxoricide comes from a study of nonlethal men
who had been convicted of wife assault (Dutton
& Browning, 1988). After viewing videotaped
conflict scenarios with a theme of a woman
abandoning her husband, those men who
were violent to their wives reported a greater
amount of anger and anxiety than a nonviolent
control group. The men said they would have
been more likely to use violence as a means to
resolve the conflict and perceived the man in the
 Aldridge, Browne / PERPETRATORS OF SPOUSAL HOMICIDE 271

scenario as being humiliated by the wifes current or former partner; of these, 23% had
demands. been stalked prior to the fatal incident.
The U.S. study by McFarlane et al. (1999)
Length of Separation found that for femicide and attempted femicide
victims, being followed or spied on was the
The New South Wales spousal homicide stalking behavior that was most frequently re-
data-set (Wallace, 1986) includes the number of ported. Further stalking behaviors, reported by
months that the couple had been separated almost one half of the women, were the perpe-
when the homicide occurred. Separation dura- trator sitting in a car outside her home or work
tion was recorded for 32 of 38 murdered wives: site and receiving unwanted telephone calls.
15 (47%) were killed within 2 months of separa-
tion and 29 (91%) within a year. Similarly, Stout Personality Disorder
(1993) found that from the perpetrators who
had killed a woman, from whom they were sep- Hart, Dutton, and Newlove (1993) conducted
arated, that 52% had a time period of less than 1 a series of studies to in-
month between the separation and the vestigate the relationship In relation to spousal
homicide. between borderline per- homicide, Dutton
This data indicates that the period immedi- sonality organization and Kerry (1999)
ately after estrangement is a particular risk to (BPO) with the frequency found patterns of
and severity of the mans personality disorders
the woman. However, additional research high-
physical abuse. They present in terms of
lights that homicide can occur months and even
compared abusers scores the modus operandi.
years after separation and divorce (Wilson &
on the Borderline Person- The overcontrolled
Daly, 1993).
ality Organization Scale (and dependent)
(Oldham, et al., 1985) personalities were
Stalking with their partners re- the most prevalent
ports of abuse. Their find- within their sample,
Stalking has been correlated with lethal and ings indicated significant and estrangement
nonlethal violence against women and coupled results; as BPO scores in- killings were
with physical assault; it is significantly associ- creased so did the sever- exclusively
ated with murder and attempted murder ity of abuse. committed by
(McFarlane et al., 1999). McFarlane et al. (1999) In relation to spousal men with this
argued that stalking must be considered a risk homicide, Dutton and personality type.
factor for femicide and attempted femicide; ap- Kerry (1999) found pat- The act was most
proximately 91% of the attempted femicide vic- terns of personality disor- likely to occur
tims (who reported abuse within the year prior ders present in terms of during a failed
to the incident) also reported stalking. This com- the modus operandi. The reconciliation, or
pares to 68% of nonabused women who re- overcontrolled (and de- when the woman
ported stalking. pendent) personalities first announced
In the National Violence Against Women Sur- were the most prevalent her intentions to
vey (Tjaden & Thoennes, 1998) conducted in the within their sample, and leave. In contrast,
United States, 81% of those who were stalked by estrangement killings they found that
a current or former husband or cohabiting part- were exclusively commit- men with antisocial
ner were also physically assaulted by the same ted by men with this per- personality disorder
partner. This supports other studies that report sonality type. The act was were more likely
that stalkers are more likely to be violent if they most likely to occur dur- to be involved in
have had an intimate relationship with the vic- ing a failed reconciliation, instrumental killings
tim (Coleman, 1997; Meloy, 1998). Moracco et al. or when the woman first (financial gain
(1998) found that of 586 femicide victims in announced her intentions through insurance
North Carolina, one half were murdered by a to leave. In contrast, they policies).

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272 TRAUMA, VIOLENCE, & ABUSE / July 2003
found that men with antisocial personality dis-
order were more likely to be involved in instru-
mental killings (financial gain through insur-
ance policies). An earlier study by Showalter,
Bonnie, and Roddy (1980) found similar results;
their work highlights that the personality disor-
der in men who are most likely to kill their spouses
is dependent and passive-aggressive. They con-
cluded that especially significant was the fact
that most of these men (spousal killers) lacked
recorded histories of assaultive or other socially
disturbing behaviour (Showalter et al., 1980,
p. 125).
Dutton and Kerry (1999) reviewed the litera-
ture surrounding psychopathology and spousal
homicide. A study conducted in Eastern Europe
(Biro, Vucovic, & Djuric, 1992) which used the
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
(MMPI) (Hathaway & McKinley, 1943) on all
homicide offenders, found 49% had a hypersen-
sitive-aggressive profile that included signs of
depression and paranoia. A further study
(Kalichman, 1988) also using the MMPI, found
85% of the male spousal homicide group had
significant scale elevations, with the psycho-
pathic deviate being the most elevated scale.
An empirical piece of research (Dutton &
Kerry, 1999) using the Millon Clinical Multiaxial
Inventory, Version 2 (MCMI-II) (Millon, 1987),
compared offenders of spousal homicide with
nonlethal spousal assaulters. The researchers
found that as the severity of nonlethal physical
violence increased so did the likelihood of per-
sonality disorder, and invariably, spousal homi-
cide offenders had personality disorders. They
concluded that overcontrolled personality dis-
orders were the most prevalent among spousal
killers. This category includes men with diagno-
ses of passive-aggressive, avoidant, self-defeating,
and dependent personality, all of whom are gen-
erally believed to be unable to express rage.
METHOD OF KILLING
The way in which a spouse kills his or her
partner can most frequently be substantiated by
the evidence from police reports, however sta-
tistics do not display details of the killing itself.
Researchers have therefore used details of the
offense to investigate not only how the perpe-
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trator killed his spouse but also the amount of
force used, multiple methods of killing, and
murder followed by suicide.
Weapons Used
Home Office Statistics (2000) indicates that,
for all murders in England and Wales, women
are more likely to be strangled or asphyxiated
(24%) than men (3%). In contrast, men were
most likely to have been killed by a sharp imple-
ment (33%). However, for spousal homicides
the figures indicate that for women and men, a
sharp implement was most often used, for fe-
male victims this was closely followed by stran-
gulation (Home Office Statistics, 2000).
Comparative studies in the United States
show that men are much more likely to use guns
or kill their spouses by beating them to death. In
line with England and Wales, women tended to
use knives or other kitchen implements (Eng-
lander, 1997; Home Office Statistics, 2000). The
pattern in western Canada shows that in gen-
eral, men stabbed their victims to death. It has
been argued that stabbing, beating, and stran-
gulation are more intimate forms of violence
than shooting (Silverman & Mukherjee, 1987).
In the United States, research (Kellerman et
al., 1993) indicates that the type of gun most of-
ten used to kill a spouse was a handgun. Men
used a handgun in 48% of the cases, and women
used a handgun in 64% of the cases. Kellerman
et al. (1993) found that keeping a gun in the
home was strongly and independently associ-
ated with an increased risk of homicide (ad-
justed odds ratio, 2.7: 95% confidence interval,
1.6 to 4.4). Almost all of this risk involved homi-
cide by a family member or intimate
acquaintance.
In Barnard, Vera, Vera, and Newmans (1982)
research there was an expectation that wives
would use a sharp implement and husbands a
gun or to beat their partner to death, however no
significant difference in the chosen weapon be-
tween the men and the women was found. This
contrasts with Dutton and Kerrys (1999) sam-
ple, as they found in almost one third of the
cases the victim was killed with the perpetra-
tors bare hands. However, where a weapon
was used, it was usually a knifethe most prev-
 Aldridge, Browne / PERPETRATORS OF SPOUSAL HOMICIDE 273

TABLE 2a: Method of Killing by Male and Female Partners for TABLE 2b: Method of Killing by Relationship and Weapon
England and Wales (1999/2000) Type for the United States (1990-1999)

Method Male Female Relationship of Blunt Other

Victim to Offender Gun Knife Object Force Weapon
Sharp implement 21 29
Blunt implement 0 12 Husband/ex-husband 66% 27% 2% 1% 4%
Kicking or hitting 1 9 Boyfriend 43% 49% 2% 2% 4%
Strangulation 1 25 Wife/ex-wife 67% 14% 5% 7% 8%
Poison or drugs 1 2 Girlfriend 68% 13% 5% 6% 8%
Shooting 1 6
SOURCE: Bureau of justice statistics: homicide trends in the USA
Explosion 0 0 between 1990 and 1999.
Burning 1 0
Drowning 0 1
Struck by a motor vehicle 0 1
micides (12%) in Englanders (1997) study in-
Other 0 1
Unknown 1 6 volved multiple blows to the victim.
Total number of victims 27 92
SOURCE: Home Office Statistics (2000). Murder-Suicide

Homicides followed by suicides happen

alent and accessible weapon in what they
deemed to be reactive, unplanned events.
Overkill
It has been speculated that killings motivated
by rage and/or revenge involve greater vio-
lence than other murders. Wolfgang (1958) de-
fined violent homicides as involving two or
more acts of stabbing, cutting, or shooting or a
severe beating (p. 455). Studies have since then
found a pattern of overkill to be characteristic of
many partner homicides (Browne et al., 1999).
In Cazenave and Zahns (1992) research that
examined 83 uxoricides, they found that men
were more violent when they killed their spouse
than when men killed any other known or un-
known victim. When comparing the data, they
found 46% of uxoricidescompared with 12%
of mariticides (husband killings)were cases of
overkill; in the male-perpetrated homicides, the
killings involved multiple blows to the wife,
many more than were needed to kill her.
Crawford and Gartner (1992) also noted over-
kill was frequent when female partners were the
victims of male-perpetrated homicides. In their
study, almost 60% of the cases indicated that
men stabbed, bludgeoned, beat, or strangled
their victims or slashed their throats; using
lengthy and excessive violence far beyond what
would have been necessary to cause death. In
contrast, only 5 of the 41 female-perpetrated ho-
most often in the cases involving spouse killings
(Silverman & Mukherjee, 1987). In the United
States, the rate is about 0.22 per 100,000 popula-
tion, and the rates in Europe are similar
(Rosenbaum, 1990). Cooper (1994) found in
British Columbia, that one third of men commit-
ted suicide after the femicide, and another 7%
attempted suicide, a similar figure was found by
Daly and Wilson (1988) for Canada as a whole.
Rosenbaums (1990) study of murder-suicide
perpetrators (where he compared this group
with homicide-only perpetrators) found that a
large majority of the murder-suicide perpetra-
tors had a history of depression, whereas none
of the perpetrators in the homicide-only group
did. He argued that his study suggests that pa-
tients with the following features may be at risk
for murder-suicide: depression, male gender,
and married or living with a woman in a long-
term relationship characterized by discord,
physical abuse, and frequent separations and
reunions. Furthermore, he identified that men
at risk for murder-suicide are likely to abuse al-
cohol, have a history of violent behavior and
previous depressive episodes, and have a long-
standing personality disorder (Rosenbaum,
1990).
Marzuk, Tardiff, and Hirsch (1992), however,
described the most common form of homicide-
suicide as amorous jealousy. This is found to
be the case in almost three fourths of all murder-
suicides in the United States. Amorous jealousy,

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274 TRAUMA, VIOLENCE, & ABUSE / July 2003
like morbid jealousy (Mowat, 1966), involves
beliefsreal or delusionalof the partners in-
fidelity. The triggering event is often the females
rejection of her lover and her immediate threat
of withdrawal and estrangement (Marzuk et al.,
1992, p. 3180). Although some murder-suicides
occur shortly after the onset of this kind of jeal-
ousy, more often there has been a history of jeal-
ous suspicions, verbal abuse, and physical vio-
lence (Marzuk et al., 1992).
Marzuk et al. (1992) noted that recent es-
trangement of partners increases the risk of male-
perpetrated spousal homicide and murder-
suicide. In Canada, they noted that 35.3% of
men who killed estranged wives committed
suicide compared with only 21.6% of non-
estranged spousal murderers. Furthermore,
they noted that the murder-suicide offender is
more likely to be White, male, older, married,
and unlikely to have a prior arrest record.
CONCLUSION
There is clear empirical evidence to suggest
that qualitatively, men who kill their spouses do
not differ greatly from those who use nonlethal
violence. Although there are risk assessments
IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE, POLICY, AND RESEARCH
Practice
Men who kill their spouses do not qualitatively dif-
fer on some risk factors from those who use
nonlethal violence.
There is a need for a risk assessment to predict those
individuals who are likely to kill their intimate part-
ner based on nine major risk factors.
There is a need for violent offender programs to spe-
cifically deal with domestic violence and spousal ho-
micide and assess the probability of further violence.
Policy
The prevalence of female homicide victims killed by
their male intimate partners indicates that spousal
homicide requires urgent attention.
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for spousal assault (Kropp, Hart, Webster, &
Eaves, 1999) and risk assessments for victims to
complete, which allow women to objectively
measure the amount of danger they are cur-
rently in (Campbell, 1995), there is no such mea-
sure for spousal homicide. A risk assessment to
predict those men (or women) who are likely to
go on to kill their intimate partner is not yet
available.
The heterogeneity of spouse abuse is well es-
tablished (see Dixon & Browne, 2003), however,
further research involving typologies of men
who commit spousal homicide is urgently re-
quired to answer the question of why some men
go on to kill whereas others who are violent do
not. Furthermore, an examination of those men
who commit spousal homicide and reoffend
(compared with those who do not) would con-
tribute to the assessment of risk within relation-
ships. Finally, typologies of men who commit
spousal homicide help guide treatment in order
to assess whether a one-size-fits-all method
would be appropriate. It is essential that an un-
derstanding of spousal homicide is pursued
and that steps are taken to reduce the likelihood
of spousal homicidethe most severe form of
violence.
Similar to nonlethal domestic violence offenders,
those who commit spousal homicide are associated
with specific risk factors that can be identified.
Characteristics of individuals who commit spousal
homicide help guide assessment and treatment.
Research
Further research is urgently required to help in the
prediction and prevention of spousal homicide.
Specifically, why do some individuals kill their inti-
mate partner whereas others who are violent do not?
An examination of those who kill or attempt to kill
more than once in comparison to those who commit
lethal violence on just one intimate partner may con-
tribute to understanding causation.
 Aldridge, Browne / PERPETRATORS OF SPOUSAL HOMICIDE
NOTE
1. De-facto relationships refer to common-law unions.
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Mari L. Aldridge is a graduate of psychol-
ogy and sociology from the University of Bath
and completed a masters in criminological psy-
chology at the University of Birmingham to
engage in her career as a chartered forensic psy-
chologist. She is employed by Her Majestys Prison Ser-
vice Headquarters in London working in the development
of violent offender programs from a cognitive behavioral
perspective. She has a particular interest in the prediction
and prevention of domestic violence and spousal homicide
and has recently carried out interviews with 50 men con-
victed of murdering their female intimate partner.
Kevin D. Browne is a chartered psycholo-
gist and a chartered biologist. He is employed
by the school of psychology, at the University of
Birmingham, as director of the Centre for
Forensic and Family Psychology. He has been
researching family violence and child maltreatment for
more than 25 years and has published extensively on these
subjects, acting as coeditor (with Dr. M. A. Lynch) of
Child Abuse Review from 1992 to 1999. His most recent
books are Preventing Family Violence (with M. Her-
bert, 1997) and Early Prediction and Prevention of
Child Abuse: A Handbook (with H. Hanks, P. Stratton,
& C. Hamilton, 2002) both published by Wiley. He was an
executive councillor of the International Society for the
Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN) from
1990 to 2002 and is currently consultant to the World
Health Organization on Family Violence and Child Pro-
tection.