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Homicide Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1, 30-46 (1999)
DOI: 10.1177/1088767999003001003

Murder as Self-Help: Women and Intimate Partner Homicide

ELICKA S. L. PETERSON

University of Missouri-St. Louis

This article explores the homicidal behavior of women against intimate partners, using a modification of Black's self-help perspective. Simpson has called for theoretical perspectives that speak to the interplay of race, gender, and social class. My interpretation of self-help theory incorporates these factors as predictors of low social status. Low social status leads to decreased access to formal social control, which in turn leads some women to resort to lethal violence as a form of criminal conflict resolution in the perceived absence of available legal remedies. Conversely, low social status serves to inhibit homicidal behavior in most women, through greater fear of retribution and involvement in fewer conflicts related to honor. This may account for the wide disparity in the amount of lethal violence committed by men and women.


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