Killed women and abused women. The same past as well as the same destiny?

Abstract

“Femicide” is an overspread phenomenon: in Italy every three days a woman is killed by her partner or ex partner. Trying to understand what underlies such crimes is so of great interest for criminologists. Femicide is very often preceded by domestic violence. In this study we considered a sample of women killed by their partner or ex partner and a sample of women ‘only’ abused and we compared the specific risk factors of femicide and of abuse. The results show that the most common risk factor is the presence of physical violence and threats, which are more severe in femicide. We discussed the possibility of preventive measures and action strategies (to be carried out by the police too) against the so-called “family disputes”.