NCJ Number
200302
Journal
Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority Research Bulletin Volume: 1 Issue: 3 Dated: March 2003 Pages: 1-8
Date Published
March 2003
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study examined intimate partner homicides in Chicago for couples with different degrees of partner age discrepancy.
Abstract
Previous research has identified age discrepancy as a risk factor for intimate partner homicide. In this study, the authors examined opposite-sex intimate partner homicide from the Chicago Homicide Dataset, one of the largest and most detailed datasets on homicide in the Nation. The dataset includes information on 24,609 homicides that were recorded by Chicago police between 1965 and 1996. The authors examined the records of 2,579 homicides in which either the woman or the man was killed and the woman was at least 18 years old. The age discrepancies ranged from the woman being 34 years older than the man to the man being 51 years older than the woman. The results indicate that having a large discrepancy in age between intimate partners was a risk factor for intimate partner homicide. Homicide rates were highest when the woman was at least 10 years older than the man or the man is at least 16 years older than the woman. This supports previous research findings from the United States and Canada. The findings indicate that practical applications, such as intervention programs, should be designed knowing that the most at-risk population for homicide are those couples with major age discrepancies. Notes, references