Recently, 28-year-old Hong Kong celebrity Cai Tianfeng was brutally killed. After preliminary investigation, the Police believe that the victim's ex-husband Kwong Hong Chi and his family are suspected of committing a major crime. Yesterday morning, the case was brought before the court, and follow-up investigation and scientific identification will be carried out gradually. While the incident has aroused widespread attention, many people have also questioned: After all, it is a loving couple, can the man really be so cruel?
The answer is that homicides between current or former spouses and partners are not uncommon. For example, just yesterday, a vicious injury incident occurred in Run Run Shaw Hospital in Hangzhou. According to the police report, a man in the hospital injured a woman with a knife due to an "emotional dispute", and then the man jumped off the building, and the woman died after ineffective rescue.
This type of homicide between current or former spouses and partners is also known as "intimate partner homicides," and the victims are predominantly women.
A vicious injury incident occurred in Run Run Shaw Hospital in Hangzhou丨Weibo @CCTV.com
Many people worry that the concentrated media coverage of intimate partner murders will lead to more copycat crimes. Similar news seems to cater to this view. However, researchers at the University of Madrid and other institutions in Spain analyzed data over a decade and concluded that intimate partner murder against women did not have a mimicry effect. Because the occurrence of cases is not concentrated due to reports, but continues to occur with a certain frequency. Therefore, a more reasonable explanation is that after a sensational event, the media will tend to give priority to reporting the same type of event for a period of time.
However, it also means that "intimate partner murder" is an ongoing and serious social problem, and such tragedies have occurred in the past and will inevitably continue to occur in the future.
"Intimate partner murder" has its own characteristics
Compared with ordinary homicides, intimate partner murder cases have their own characteristics, such as the predominance of female victims.
According to a global systematic study published by The Lancet in 2013, about one in seven murders is committed by the deceased's partner or former partner, and in these cases, the number of female victims is 6~10 times that of men. According to research by the Institute of Criminal and Legal Sciences of Beijing Normal University, more than eighty percent of victims of intimate partner murder cases on the mainland are women.
It can be said that intimate partner murder is one of the most common unnatural causes of death for women. In 2017, for example, at least 87,000 women were intentionally murdered worldwide, more than 30,000 of them by their partners. Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) also shows that nearly four in ten murders where the victims are women are intimate partner murders.
Intimate partner murder cases are predominantly female. 丨Figureworm Creative
Suicide after murder is also a relatively unique phenomenon in intimate partner murder. Almost half of murderers, especially male murderers, will attempt suicide after murdering their partner. Such murderers may end their lives because their partner is terminally ill, or they may force their spouse to commit suicide or martyrdom with them.
In addition to this, the biggest difference between intimate partner murder and other murder cases is its predictability. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University conducted a retrospective evaluation and found that 86.5 percent of such cases could be judged to be "at risk of homicide" before the incident. The University of Manchester survey also confirmed that 83.9% of murderers in such cases had preconceptions and plans.
Intimate partner murder cases usually occur at the victim's home or in the common home of both people. Knives, blunt tools, or strangulation methods commonly used in daily life are more common in such cases, and some male murderers are more willing to use direct physical violence to murder female victims.
It doesn't have to be an emotional dispute,
The context of the case is usually complex
Whenever there is an intimate partner murder case, it is easy for the media to attribute the murder motive to an emotional dispute, as if both parties are responsible for the tragedy. However, the context of such cases is often complex and difficult to explain simply. Moreover, multiple studies have shown that the most common motive for such cases is actually the jealousy of the male perpetrator, which is a major source of conflict in intimate relationships and is often associated with aggressive behavior.
In extreme cases, you don't even need any factual basis, a normal work dinner for your partner, a call or message from the opposite sex, even a casual look... can cause strong jealousy among perpetrators.
Perhaps unexpectedly, pregnancy is also an important cause of intimate partner murder. One of the leading causes of death for women during pregnancy and the first year of postpartum life is intimate partner murder, which most often occurs in the first trimester of pregnancy, when women have just found out that they are pregnant. This is not only because pregnancy is the most vulnerable period for women, but also because pregnancy can induce and exacerbate many conflicts between partners.
There have been tragedies in India in which husbands killed pregnant wives with knives in anger because they suspected that their fourth child was still a girl. 丨Pixabay
A staggering 90 percent of such cases involving teenagers are female victims, and nearly four in ten male killers are their ex-love dates. The breakdown of romantic relationships, wishful pursuits, and jealousy and disputes in love are common motives. Men in adolescence are relatively less educated and act impulsively and recklessly, so they are more likely to be driven by jealousy, depression and other emotions to hurt their partners or ex.
It should be noted that women, whether adults or teenagers, are at higher risk of being murdered when they propose a breakup and for a period of time after the breakup. This is not to say that the blame lies with the victimized woman, on the contrary, most murders are due to the unrealistic possessiveness of the male partner. This risk is even more pronounced when men are physically or mentally abusive and possessive.
People who use violence,
More likely to kill one's own partner
In intimate partner murders, the murderer exhibits some typical characteristics. Multiple studies have shown that people with the following five characteristics are more likely to kill their partner: (1) have made death threats against their partner; (2) control over most or even all of the partner's daily life; (3) the use of weapons in violent abuse; (4) alcohol or drug addiction; (5) Persistent and intense jealousy.
Violence is the most important risk factor, and people who habitually use physical or psychological violence in intimate relationships are more likely to kill their partners. According to Johns Hopkins University, 79 percent of female victims of intimate partner murders have experienced at least one violent abuse from their partner.
Whether it is the discipline of parents growing up, the fights between brothers and classmates, or the patriarchal and male violence that is exposed to real life, the world of men is more violent than women, and they are more inclined to use violence. In intimate relationships, men tend to dominate in all aspects, and congenital physical differences make men more likely to be perpetrators of violence.
According to the impulsivity of the violence and the severity of the damage caused to the victim, researchers at Hiroshima University in Japan divided intimate relationship violence into four categories: high degree of direct violence, low degree of direct violence, high degree of indirect violence, and low degree of indirect violence. 丨Reference 8
Because it occurs mainly within the family, intimate partner violence often puts female victims at very high risk. They may also be subject to economic constraints, the control of the abuser, family and society, and have to choose to continue the relationship.
However, researchers believe that a woman's failure to flee the relationship immediately after being abused may have exacerbated the harm she suffered. For the abuser, the other party's tolerance and obedience is a satisfying feedback, and the perpetrator may escalate the violence over time. In some extreme cases, violence culminates in unending homicide.
Violence that significantly increases the incidence of murder in intimate relationships丨Reference 4
Of course, we cannot simply determine whether the likelihood of a murder is high or low based on the type and severity of the violence. The complexity of intimate partner violence and murder means that whenever your partner exhibits these behaviors, you are equally exposed to the risk of murder, regardless of their severity.
In addition, surveys have shown that the mental world of intimate partner murderers can be very fragile. In addition to a history of intimate partner violence, male perpetrators have higher suicidal tendencies and are more likely to suffer from mental illness. This partly explains why the modus operandi in many cases is so brutal.
It also explains why alcohol often plays a catalytic role in intimate partner murders. The stimulant effect of alcohol can sometimes stimulate the fragile heart of the abuser and prompt them to engage in violent violence, thereby amplifying the conflict between partners. Drinking alcohol can pull both parties into the abyss, and two people who have a history of violence in an intimate relationship, both the perpetrator and the victim, are several times more likely to commit murder after drinking.
The avoidance of tragedies requires multifaceted efforts
As mentioned earlier, intimate partner murder cases are predictable, so researchers agree that such cases should be treated differently from ordinary murder cases, and it is best to prevent the tragedy before it happens.
The reason for discriminating and pre-intervention in such cases is that intimate partner murder can be very serious and costly at both the personal and social levels. In addition to the loss of the victim's life, the respective families and their children suffer incalculable harm. The European Institute for Gender Equality estimates that the annual social costs of intimate relationship violence and murder in European countries exceed 120 billion euros, including lost economic output and costs from health services, the legal sector, and social welfare. It is worth mentioning that more than 100 billion euros of this loss is caused by male abusers.
Therefore, social institutions and law enforcement agencies should not only treat the problem as a private matter within the family, but should fully consider the many potential victims and high social costs behind the incident, and develop effective protection strategies for travel.
Ideal conservation strategies should be carried out at different stages of an event, from individuals to different levels of society. 丨Pixabay
Many female victims do not seek help even if they are abused. This is not only because they tend to underestimate the seriousness and danger of partner violence, but also because they may not have sufficient capacity and access to help. Research notes that women with higher social status and economic base are more likely to flee violence from their partners. Therefore, improving personal issues such as the employment of victims is one of the ways to help victims get out of dangerous relationships.
Third parties are also a key part in preventing such homicides. They are usually relatives and friends of the person concerned, either witnessing, hearing or receiving complaints and requests for help directly from the victim, and have the first opportunity to provide protection to the victim or contact law enforcement to intervene. However, many people in China often "persuade and do not persuade" to problems between other people's husbands and wives, regardless of right or wrong, which may further promote the escalation of violence and conflicts.
Many female victims go to the hospital for injuries, and because doctors can better identify violent injuries, hospitals have the capacity to serve as shelters for victims of intimate partner violence. As early as 2014, the American College of Surgeons launched the "Intimate Partner Violence Statement", calling on doctors to take active action to treat violent injuries and prevent intimate partner murder.
Finally, providing effective mental health assessment and treatment for perpetrators, and properly counseling those with criminal records and intimate relationship violence is also an important part of risk management.
Measures against perpetrators are also an important part of risk control. 丨Pixabay
Statistics from Arizona State University show that 91% of victims reported violent abuse to the police before intimate partner murder. Moreover, the parties were visited by law enforcement authorities an average of six times before the incident. These data suggest that although law enforcement was aware of violence before it happened, it did not really prevent tragedy. Thus, the prevention of intimate partner murder also requires a tougher crackdown on similar violence in legislation and enforcement.
The mainland also introduced the Anti-Domestic Violence Law of the People's Republic of China in 2016, but a 2018 survey by Zhejiang University concluded that more than half of women in China have experienced violence from their partners, and the harsh reality tells us that there is still a long way to go before the problem of intimate partner violence and murder is truly taken seriously and effectively resolved. We must realize that facing such a serious social problem as intimate partner murder requires greater determination and courage.
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Author: Warm Water
Editor: Li Xiaoqiu