“I killed her, but I never laid a finger on her” — A phenomenological difference between wife-killing and wife-battering

Based on in-depth interviews conducted in Israel with 18 violent men and 18 men convicted of murdering their female partners, the study examines the validity of the concept which holds that, in terms of motive and emotional dynamics, female partner homicide (“femicide”) is not discrete from other manifestations of violence against a female partner. Findings show that whereas non-lethal violence usually takes place spontaneously, and under diverse circumstances for the purpose of achieving control over the woman, the circumstances surrounding murder are far more distinctive; and in the majority of cases lethal violence is not a spontaneous, but rather a planned and premeditated act motivated by deep despair, which leads to the desire to obliterate another person, even at the price of self-destruction. We suggest that homicide of an intimate female partner is a discrete phenomenon, which differs from non-lethal violence against women in terms of the emotions that trigger it, the circumstances that lead up to it, and the state of mind that characterizes it.

► The dynamic underlying femicide is different from that which characterizes violence.
► Violence is used spontaneously, in a variety of circumstances and motivated by hope.
► Femicide cases are often premeditated and motivated by a deep despair.