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Article
Spousal Homicides in Contemporary Ghana
Journal of Criminal Justice (2008)
  • Mensah Adinkrah, Dr.
Abstract
This study added to the scant extant literature on lethal marital violence in non-Western societies through the analysis of seventy-two spousal killings that were reported in a Ghanaian daily newspaper during 1990–2005. The findings showed that husbands were five times more likely to kill a spouse as were wives and that sexual jealousy and suspicions of infidelity were the most common precipitating factor in uxoricides. Mariticides were fueled by anger towards a husband who planned to take an additional wife, or by an instrumental need to replace a husband with a new lover. Analysis of data further revealed a predominance of poor and working class victims and assailants. The crime often occurred in the common dwelling place of the couple or a jointly-owned farm, or in cases involving separation, in the wife's natal home or farm. A plethora of methods were used to perpetrate the murders, including shooting with a gun, hacking with a cutlass or machete, hitting with a blunt object, and beating with personal weapons.
Keywords
  • spousal homicide,
  • uxoricide,
  • mariticide,
  • intimate partner violence,
  • femicide,
  • murder-suicide
Publication Date
2008
Citation Information
Mensah Adinkrah. "Spousal Homicides in Contemporary Ghana" Journal of Criminal Justice Vol. 36 (2008)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/mensah_adinkrah/16/