| Spousal Murder in Large Urban Counties | ||
|---|---|---|
| Source Methodological Considerations | ||
| 1988 | An estimated 156 wives and 275 husbands were convicted of killing their spouses. 81% of wives but 94% of husbands received a prison sentence. State prison sentences for wives were about 10 years shorter than for husbands. "Victim provocation" was more often present in wife defendant cases: 44% of the time, wife defendants had been assaulted by their spouse or threatened with a weapon immediately prior to the murder, whereas this was true for only 10% of husband defendants. Excluding life and death sentences, the average prison terms imposed on 6 years for wife defendants (7 years for unprovoked wife defendants) and 16.5 years for husband defendants (17 years for unprovoked husband defendants), or an overall average of 13 years. A woman dies as the result of spousal abuse every 6 hours in the U.S. | BJS-NCJ NCJ-156831 "Spousal Murder Defendants in Large Urban Counties" Based on studies of murder cases in the 75 most populous counties in the U.S., where slightly more than half of all murders in the U.S. are committed. |