TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2007//
TI  - Women who kill their husbands: mariticides in contemporary Ghana
JO  - Aggressive behavior
A1  - Adinkrah, Mensah
SP  - 526
EP  - 536
VL  - 33
IS  - 6
N2  - Homicide by wives against husbands is a largely unexplored subject in lethal violence research. The paucity of information on the phenomenon is particularly acute in the non-Western world where scholarly research is virtually nonexistent. The specific goal for this article, then, was to provide additional insights into the issue by investigating wife-to-husband killings that occurred in Ghana, a non-Western society, during 1990-2005. In line with the scant, extant literature, the results of the analysis demonstrate that victims were invariably slain at home. The motive for the crime was to punish a womanizing husband, a husband who had taken another wife, or one who was contemplating wedding another wife in this polygynous society. In other instances, the homicidal intent was to physically eliminate a husband to facilitate an amorous relationship between the assailant and her new lover. In several cases, husband-slayers killed a latent or predisposing victim (e.g. sleeping or ill) via burning, slashing with a machete or food poisoning. The implications of the findings are discussed.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0096-140X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ab.20209
ID  - ref1
ER  -