Losing Control

Using data from Statistics Canada’s Homicide Survey, this article explores the dynamics of intimate partner homicides in Canada between 1991 and 2000 among a range of relationships. The authors’ findings are consistent with previous studies that document an elevated risk of intimate partner homicide for women who have separated compared to women in intact relationships. Using bivariate and multivariate techniques, the authors find that a number of incident characteristics set apart homicides that occur in intact and estranged intimate relationships for women but not for men. Similarly, this study finds that the circumstances and motivational contexts of intimate homicides differ for female victims depending on relationship type (legal marriages, common-law unions, and other intimate relationships). These results support recommendations from Dawson and Gartner (1998) that researchers continue to develop conceptually meaningful categorizations of intimate partner homicides.

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