Intimate Partner Homicide and the Battered Person Syndrome

Abstract

AbstractAlthough intimate partner violence (IPV), also known as domestic violence, is a set of heterogeneous phenomena, with various causes, dynamics, and consequences, some forms of IPV, known as battering or coercive-controlling violence, can have a profound physical and psychological impact on victims. At the extreme end of these phenomena is intimate partner homicide (IPH), a crime that has been poorly understood and politicized. Attorneys, judges, and juries are asked to adjudicate a crime committed among intimate partners, a context that challenges traditional forms of jurisprudence and invites confusion and politicization. This review examines the causal and motivational factors for IPH in light of the scholarly research literature. It provides a critique of the battered person syndrome, routinely invoked by defense attorneys, particularly in cases involving female suspects. The role of perpetrator sex and gender is also examined.