Wife Killings Committed in the Context of a Lovers Triangle

Abstract

The killing of women by their husbands poses an enigma for social scientists. Why do relationships presumably characterized by love sometimes result in death? A variety of hypotheses have been offered to explain this puzzling pattern. Among the most prominent are (a) sheer proximity and opportunity, (b) epiphenomenal by-products of a male psychology designed for coercive control of women, and (c) evolved mate-killing mechanisms. One way to test these hypotheses is to examine the contexts in which wife killings occur. We secured access to a homicide database that included 345 spouse killings perpetrated by husbands in the context of a lovers triangle, a context that signifies sexual infidelity. Results indicated that a woman's age, and hence reproductive status, predicts vulnerability to being killed in the context of a lovers triangle. Discussion focuses on alternative explanations for this finding, as well as findings not explained by existing theories of homicide.