Male Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Homicide: A Review and Proposed Typology.

Nearly one in seven homicides worldwide involve killing of an intimate partner, and men are four times more likely to be the perpetrators of these offenses. This article is a review of the literature on male perpetrators of intimate partner homicide (IPH) with an emphasis on the demographic, psychiatric, situational, and motivational characteristics consistently identified across diverse posthomicide samples. The existing literature supports the heterogeneity among male perpetrators of IPH. Based on patterns that emerge in the literature, a preliminary typology is described that includes four generally distinct subtypes of male IPH perpetrators: the mentally ill, the undercontrolled/dysregulated, chronic batterer, and overcontrolled/catathymic subtypes. Forensic implications related to risk assessment, risk management, and criminal intent are considered, and suggestions for future targeted research aimed at validating the proposed typology are offered.