About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

24 Colum. J.L. & Soc. Probs. 597 (1991)
A Lesser Crime: A Comparative Study of Legal Defenses for Men Who Kill Their Wives

handle is hein.journals/collsp24 and id is 607 raw text is: WINNER: COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL'S NEGRONI PRIZE, 1991 A Lesser Crime: A Comparative Study of Legal Defenses for Men Who Kill Their Wives MELISSA SPATZ* I. INTRODUCTION Throughout the world, men who murder their wives encounter legal systems that are lenient toward their crimes. Many legal sys- tems treat the murder of a wife as a less serious crime than the murder of a stranger. Such systems permit men who kill their wives to avoid punishment or receive mitigated sentences through a variety of techniques, including the creation of statutory and common law defenses to criminal charges and non-enforcement of criminal laws. By such legal devices, countries around the world have in effect sanctioned these murders. Although most authors have focused on countries traditionally considered unsympathetic to the plight of wives,1 a man's ability to kill his wife and escape punishment is not confined to any one country. This Article analyzes three types of systems,2 viewing the plight of wives as a problem of international dimension. Section II examines criminal justice systems in Islamic coun- tries. These systems - often through statutes - acquit or impose drastically reduced sentences on men who murder their wives upon finding the women engaged in adulterous acts. Many Islamic coun- tries also require lower compensation (so-called blood money) * Staff Member, Colum. J.L. & Soc. Probs., 1989-90. The author wishes to thank Cynthia Brown for suggesting this project, and Martha Fineman for her suggestions. She also wishes to acknowledge the support of the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation and the Columbia Human Rights Internship Program in making the research possible. 1. Most authors discussing the murder of wives focus on India, since Indian women's rights groups have provided valuable data on dowry deaths. See infra notes 63.127 and ac- companying text. For notable exceptions, see Empowerment and the Law (M. Schuler ed. 1986); Heise, Crimes of Gender, WorldWatch, Mar.-Apr. 1989, at 12. 2. This Article is not intended to be a comprehensive examination of all states that provide defenses for men who kill their wives; rather, it focuses on three illustrative systems.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most