Uxoricide

[3] However, wives were more likely to kill their husbands than vice versa in some US cities including Chicago, Detroit, Houston,[3][4] and St.

In the US, 2002 murderers of spouses (husband and wives combined) were 69.4% white, 25.7% black and 4.8% Asian/Pacific Islander and 0.1 American Indian/ Alaska Native.

These men wish to leave the relationship, but unknowingly perceive themselves as too helpless to do so, which culminates into a belief that killing the wife is the only way to be free of her.

Psychodynamic researchers argue that being the victim of abuse in childhood leads to being a perpetrator of domestic abuse in adulthood via the route of defense mechanisms – in this case, violence is an unconscious defensive adaption to childhood trauma and other adverse events.

[14] Other psychodynamic researchers have reported that Thematic Apperception Tests reveal significant trends of rejection by a mother or wife in men who commit uxoricide.

For example, in one instance one man had experienced and recorded over 200 distressing, mostly violent dreams prior to murdering his wife.

Cohabiting women are more likely to be younger, have a lower level of education and are more likely to bring children from a previous relationship into their home with their new intimate partner.

An Australian study found that of a sample of uxoricide cases, 47% of women were murdered by their male intimate partner within two months of separating.

[20] These crimes have been termed "abandonment homicides", and are most commonly committed by men with childhood histories of abandonment and trauma, in conjunction with markedly low serotonin levels and frontal cortex damage that contribute to poor impulse control.

[22] Therefore, by killing his partner he will avoid the reputational damage associated with intrasexual competition and will eliminate the chances of another man having access to a high value mate.

[26] As a result, a man will place high levels of importance on a mate with greater reproductive value.

[28] Other facilitating cultural norms include discriminatory family laws and articles in the criminal code which display leniency towards honor killings.

[30][31] These attitudes favouring honor killings have also been echoed amongst children and adults in Jordan[32][33] and India.

[42] Studies conducted in Italy exhibit similar findings, reporting that a man's cultural values concerning the position of women in society links to his likelihood of committing uxoricide.