research on crime of passion

Crimes of Passion: New Neuroscience vs. Old Doctrine

Crimes of passion : new neuroscience vs. old doctrine february 14, 2018 12:00 pm wasserstein hall, milstein west (2019) harvard law school, cambridge, ma.

On Valentine’s Day we celebrate love. But the criminal law often sees love and passion turned into violence. How does this happen? And how should law respond? Many doctrines, most notably the “heat of passion” defense – which historically has been used disproportionately to excuse the crimes of men against women – rely on a distinction between defendants who acted “emotionally” instead of “rationally.” But modern neuroscience has debunked the idea that reason and emotion are two entirely different mental states. This panel will explore how law should respond to this neuroscientific challenge to long-held doctrine.

• Lisa Feldman-Barrett, PhD , University Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Director of the Interdisciplinary Affective Science Laboratory at Northeastern University; Research Scientist, Department of Psychiatry, Northeastern University; Research Neuroscientist, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital; Lecturer in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Faculty Affiliate, the Center for Law, Brain & Behavior, Massachusetts General Hospital
• Judge Nancy Gertner (ret.) , Senior Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School and Managing Director, Center for Law, Brain & Behavior, Massachusetts General Hospital
• Moderator:  Francis X. Shen, PhD, JD , Senior Fellow in Law and Applied Neuroscience, the Petrie-Flom Center in Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School and the Center for Law, Brain & Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital; Associate Professor of Law and McKnight Land-Grant Professor, University of Minnesota Law School; Executive Director of Education and Outreach, the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Law and Neuroscience

Part of the  Project on Law and Applied Neuroscience , a collaboration between the Center for Law, Brain & Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School.

Share this:

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
• Click to print (Opens in new window)

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff

The Petrie-Flom Center staff often posts updates, announcements, and guests posts on behalf of others.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Sign up for our newsletter

Ending the Myths about Domestic Homicide

There has been a spike in domestic violence amid the COVID-19 crisis, according to a recent report from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

He saw her flirting with another man. He lost control. He flew into a rage––which ended in murder. This is the story we often hear about domestic homicide. But this story is not only false, it’s dangerous.

According to Jane Monckton Smith, a Professor of Public Protection at University of Gloucestershire, and the author of “In Control: Dangerous Relationships and How They End in Murder,” this is an example of the “crime of passion” theory—and it’s one of the biggest myths about intimate partner homicide.

Monckton Smith spent more than a decade researching and assessing domestic homicide cases and interviewing killers, trying to understand what, exactly, drove them to murder. Her main finding: Those who commit violence share a common need to be “in control,” and instead of occurring spontaneously, the act is, in fact, usually premeditated. In other words, most murders are not crimes of passion.

Gregory K. Moffatt, Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Point University, is a former homicide profiler with the Atlanta Cold Case Squad who served for nearly a decade as a regular lecturer at the FBI Academy. He agrees that the crime of passion narrative is misleading, since it “implies that it is impulsive and comes out of the blue,” which, he notes, is false.

Weekly Newsletter

Get your fix of JSTOR Daily’s best stories in your inbox each Thursday.

Privacy Policy   Contact Us You may unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the provided link on any marketing message.

Getting the Courts on Board  

One reason the “crime of passion” myth is so pervasive: It’s used in nearly every single domestic homicide defense argument. However, crimes that fit this description happen in fewer than 5% of cases. “It’s just not accurate,” Monckton Smith said. “It’s not a reflection of reality at all.” Instead, killers calculate.

Despite the statistics, the courts don’t often entertain alternative narratives for domestic homicide. They have been “resistant” to the evidence, Monckton Smith said. “They’re resistant to being trained and listening,” she said. “Very tied to traditional beliefs––and the crime of passion is a very traditional belief.”

Domestic violence cases, she said, do not apply the same kind of rules as in other cases. But they are really not so difficult to prosecute––and paying attention to the facts would be a good place to start. “There are very ingrained belief systems about violence against women which makes them difficult to prosecute, because of the way we approach the crime itself,” Monckton Smith said. “That is about society. That is about double standards, belief systems that prioritize male thinking. We are much quicker to forgive and excuse men than we are women.”

Those who challenge this mindset, she believes, are seen as hating men. “That’s a diversion from reality,” she said. “But those people with the power to divert are very powerful; as soon as you make a counter-argument, people stop listening.”

About Killers

Those who commit domestic homicide, Monckton Smith said, are a “type.”

“There is a mountain of research and evidence to show that intimate-partner abuse is committed by a similar type of person with certain belief systems,” she said. And they are mostly men: Women make up fewer than 10% of the perpetrators of domestic homicide. The victims, mainly women, range from those involved in one-night stands to those who have been married to their partner for 50 years. Monckton Smith believes that we need to adjust our view of domestic abuse: to realize that it is not merely a couple’s problem, but the fact that it is about a perpetrator who finds a victim. We need, in other words, and to see domestic abuse as a red flag for potential domestic homicide .

Defenses tend to lean also on the narrative of mental illness. Instead, according to Monckton Smith, courts should pay attention to evidence “which says that they’re a type, they’re a dangerous type, they’re more given to being very concerned about their own status, and when that is challenged, [they] will kill.”

Controlling patterns can be the result of personality disorders—about half of the perpetrators are lacking in empathy, and are callous and self-serving. But it’s not the only reason these patterns develop. The pattern often arises when one person is dependent on the status they derive from being a couple. The common denominator is that perpetrators believe themselves to be entitled to be in charge of their relationship.

Myths about Victims

We also often question the mental fitness of victims. “The cause of their behavior is not mental illness, although trauma can cause mental illness,” she said. “They’ll say: ‘And why didn’t the victim leave? Oh, because they’re mentally ill. They’ve got battered-women syndrome,’” Monckton Smith said. We also often say that victims of domestic violence are weak, or, in some sense, want to be controlled. This is also untrue—and a dangerous way of viewing these relationships. Instead, we should see that victims and perpetrators are making “rational choices,” Monckton Smith said.

“The victim is making rational choices because they’re bloody scared, and that’s what scared people do, and the abusers are a type that are serially abusive,” she said. “But we don’t want that story.”

The Bigger Picture

While we think of serial killers as “the most dangerous predators,” Monckton Smith observed, we still view intimate homicide killers as husbands, fathers, and lovers. “Why are we refusing to make that leap?”

Another problem is that we’re still assessing the relationship as a two-way street, she said. “Why are we assessing them like this? We’ve got a dangerous person, looking around for a victim, who’s gotten into a relationship with someone. And we look to share the blame around.” While victims may behave in a range of ways––fighting back, becoming compliant, hiding out in fear––“what’s consistent is the perpetrator,” she said.

Authorities don’t always see the true situation victims are involved in. They are intimidated, she said, and are thinking primarily about how to manage their safety . “We’ve been trying to teach police officers and other professionals for years to be empathetic,” she said. “But why don’t you just start talking to this person as if a crime has been committed? As if she is an intimidated witness. What’s going to happen if you help her?”

Developing a Homicide Timeline

Domestic abuse is both pervasive and far-reaching: we know that those with a history of domestic assault are more likely to go on shooting sprees, for instance, and 20% of victims of this violence are not partners. And the problem has gotten worse during COVID-19––a recent report from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) shows a spike in domestic violence, presumably because increased time spent at home led to escalated conflicts. And the data here may be underrepresenting the problem, since the pandemic is not yet over, and many victims of abuse are undoubtedly keeping quiet.

Understanding patterns behind intimate partner homicide is critical in protecting potential victims as well as ensuring that those who do murder are prosecuted properly, since perpetrators of domestic abuse are more likely to commit other violent acts. Finding patterns in her research, Monckton Smith developed a “ homicide timeline ,” marking the 8 specific stages that lead to murder. This is currently being used by police departments and courts to predict domestic homicide.

Gregory K. Moffatt agrees that Monckton Smith is “exactly right that domestic homicide flows in cycles.” He does add that domestic violence does not necessarily lead to homicide––“so caution should be taken in how it is applied.” But the homicide model “can be extremely helpful for intervention and perhaps for sentencing and managing protective orders,” Moffatt said.

In her Hidden Homicides Project, Monckton is trying to uncover deaths that may have been domestic abuse homicides. These are deaths that are not marked as suspicious, that may seem ordinary, but where a red flag could point to foul play.

“Where people are saying, ‘no, this is a homicide,’ you’ve got to listen to us,” she said. From her estimates in this project, Monckton Smith said that hidden homicides may represent a huge amount ––she said that there are as many, if not more, hidden homicides than registered homicides, in total.

Helping Those at Risk

For those who are concerned about someone who may be at risk, Monckton Smith offers advice: don’t assume you can rush in and save them. This could push the victim back into the arms of the abuser. Instead, treat it as “a long game,” she advised. The best thing you can do, she said, is to simply remain present and create a supportive environment––so that when they are ready to leave, you are there waiting for them.

Monckton Smith knows, from personal experience, just how difficult this long game can be. When her daughter was in an abusive relationship, she “came very close to losing her.” This is not uncommon––a controlling partner often makes it difficult for the victim to keep outside people (especially people who may be influential) close.

“But I was like a dog with a bone; I wasn’t going anywhere,” she said. When her daughter phoned her in the middle of the night, she went and got her, no questions asked. “I didn’t fight with her. I didn’t say ‘not this again,’ because I knew, the first time I said that, she wouldn’t call me again,” Monckton Smith said.

“I had to reconstruct my relationship with my daughter,” she recalled. “And when she was being really annoying and challenging and difficult because of the situation, I had to say, ‘don’t worry. I understand.’ Even if I wanted to scream and shout.” It’s a stereotype that victims of domestic abuse chose their situation––for instance, in cases where they return to a violent partner after a restraining order is issued. But this misses the bigger picture.

“People in those situations, the thinking is very short term,” Monckton Smith said. It’s virtually impossible to imagine the future. “They are managing their safety, and managing a person who behaves like a recalcitrant bloody toddler. But it’s a very dangerous, insane toddler. So, they’re always planning for the short term: how do I get through today?”

Helping victims see the future, and what life would look like if they escape their situation, is critical.

The best way to truly address, and prevent, intimate partner homicide is by starting to talk about the issue candidly and stop perpetuating the “crime of passion” myth, Monckton Smith believes. “If a critical mass speaks the truth, it will take the power away from the [offenders],” she said.

Support JSTOR Daily! Join our new membership program on Patreon today.

JSTOR is a digital library for scholars, researchers, and students. JSTOR Daily readers can access the original research behind our articles for free on JSTOR.

Get Our Newsletter

More stories.

Astronomers Have Warned against Colonial Practices in the Space Industry

Japanese Tourists at the Dancehall

Back to School

The Sovereignty of the Latter-day Saints

Recent posts.

• The Long Civil Rights Movement
• HMS Challenger and the History of Science at Sea
• “Protecting Kids” from Gay Marriage
• Seeing Cannibals in the Enlightenment
• Like, It’s a History of Air Guitar, Dudes!

Support JSTOR Daily

Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

crime of passion

Primary tabs.

In  criminal law , a crime of passion is a crime committed in the " heat of passion " or in response to  provocation , as opposed to a crime that was  premeditated  or deliberated. Provocation serves as a partial defense to a charge of murder because while it does not completely excuse the defendant of the killing, it can downgrade the degree of the crime, and therefore the associated punishment. For example, successfully showing that a killing occurred in the heat of passion may lower a murder charge to a manslaughter charge. 

The provocation defense serves to recognize that some reactions can be provoked spontaneously, without giving one the opportunity to reflect on their actions, and, therefore, the required mental state of premeditation or deliberation is not met. 

The provocation behind a crime of passion must be that which is calculated to inflame the passions of a  reasonable person . For example, assault on the defendant after the sudden discovery of spousal adultery have traditionally been regarded as sufficient provocation, while mere words have not.

As an alternative to the heat of passion standard, some jurisdictions apply the standard of extreme emotional disturbance. The  Model Penal Code  (section 210.3) states that a  murder  is downgraded to  manslaughter  when it was "committed under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance for which there is reasonable explanation or excuse." It is worth noting that while this standard is more flexible than the provocation standard, it still falls under a reasonable person standard.

In New York , the offense of murder can be downgraded to manslaughter if it was found that the defendant acted in a heat of passion, which negates the element of malice required for murder. "Heat of passion" requires an inquiry as to whether the defendant was "obscured or disturbed" by passion that would cause a reasonable person to act from passion rather than judgment. Furthermore, for a defendant to have acted in the heat of passion, he or she must have succumbed to adequate provocation.

California  has articulated the standard to include a subjective aspect. Specifically, the defendant must not only have been adequately provoked into the heat of passion, but the resulting crime must have been done in response to the provocation. As a result, this standard denies the defense to those who kill out of revenge or a reason unrelated to the provocation.

[Last updated in July of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team ]

• THE LEGAL PROCESS
• criminal law
• criminal procedure
• criminal law and procedure
• wex definitions

Crimes of Passion

Cite this chapter.

• Ernest van den Haag &
• John P. Conrad  

757 Accesses

Unlike such crimes as tax evasion or burglary, many murders are “crimes of passion.” The classical idea of a “crime passionel” conjures up a husband who surprises his wife in flagrante delicto , having adulterous relations with another man. In a passionate rage, the wronged husband, or boyfriend, kills her and/or her lover. Such passion has served as a legal excuse in some jurisdictions and is a mitigating circumstance in others, wherefore the “crime of passion” is not punished as severely as the same act would be punished without the motive of passion. I know of no death penalty imposed for crimes of passion in the United States—although the definition of such crimes may vary.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save.

• Get 10 units per month
• Download Article/Chapter or eBook
• 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
• Cancel anytime
• Available as PDF
• Read on any device
• Instant download
• Own it forever
• Available as EPUB and PDF
• Compact, lightweight edition
• Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
• Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Unable to display preview.  Download preview PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Honor Killing: Where Pride Defeats Reason

The Age of Assassination: Monarchy and Nation in Nineteenth-Century Europe

Violence, Crime and Punishment

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1983 Ernest van den Haag and John P. Conrad

About this chapter

van den Haag, E., Conrad, J.P. (1983). Crimes of Passion. In: The Death Penalty. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2787-3_14

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2787-3_14

Publisher Name : Springer, Boston, MA

Print ISBN : 978-0-306-41416-9

Online ISBN : 978-1-4899-2787-3

eBook Packages : Springer Book Archive

Share this chapter

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

Passion's Progress: Modern Law Reform and the Provocation Defense

Yale Law Journal, Vol. 106, pp. 1331-1438, 1997

Georgetown Public Law Research Paper No. 12-106

119 Pages Posted: 3 Aug 2012

Victoria Nourse

Georgetown University Law Center

Date Written: 1997

Based on a systematic study of fifteen years of passion murder cases, this article concludes that reform challenges our conventional ideas of a "crime of passion" and, in the process, leads to a murder law that is both illiberal and often perverse. If life tells us that crimes of passion are the stuff of sordid affairs and bedside confrontations, reform tells us that the law's passion may be something quite different. A significant number of the reform cases the author has studied involve no sexual infidelity whatsoever, but only the desire of the killer's victim to leave a miserable relationship. Reform has permitted juries to return a manslaughter verdict in cases where the defendant claims passion because the victim left, moved the furniture out, planned a divorce, or sought a protective order. Even infidelity has been transformed under reform's gaze into something quite different from the sexual betrayal we might expect -- it is the infidelity of a fiancée who danced with another, of a girlfriend who decided to date someone else, and of the divorcee found pursuing a new relationship months after the final decree. In the end, reform has transformed passion from the classical adultery to the modern dating and moving and leaving. And because of that transformation, these killings, at least in reform states, may no longer carry the law's name of murder.

Keywords: crime, criminal justice, feminist legal theory, provocation, defense, crimes of passion, murder, manslaughter, legal reform, model penal code, domestic violence, intimate homicide

JEL Classification: K10, K14, K19

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Victoria Nourse (Contact Author)

Georgetown university law center ( email ).

600 New Jersey Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20001 United States

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics, related ejournals, georgetown university law center legal studies research paper series.

Subscribe to this free journal for more curated articles on this topic

Criminal Law eJournal

Subscribe to this fee journal for more curated articles on this topic

Women, Gender & the Law eJournal

Social & political philosophy ejournal, law & society: public law - crime, criminal law, & punishment ejournal, philosophy of law ejournal.

Breadcrumbs Section. Click here to navigate to respective pages.

‘Crimes of Passion’

DOI link for ‘Crimes of Passion’

Click here to navigate to parent product.

The label ‘crime of passion’ has traditionally been given to homicides committed in a fit of jealousy by a spouse or partner. However, if the word ‘passion’ is taken in its historic sense to denote the emotions, a large number of crimes are, in some sense, crimes of passion. The aim of this chapter is to sketch out some of the ways in which emotional factors can impact on criminal fault, and by which a greater understanding of the emotions can be of benefit to judges and others in this context. In particular, it has been said that emotions have a number of features: (1) they are mediated by neural/hormonal systems in the brain; (2) they can give rise to affective experiences; (3) they can generate cognitive processes; (4) they can activate widespread physiological adjustments to the arousing conditions; and (5) they can lead to behaviour that may be goal-directed and adaptive. The chapter goes on to discuss the implications of these insights for the study of criminal fault as mediated through different stages of the criminal process, and to suggest avenues for further research into the topic.

• Privacy Policy
• Terms & Conditions
• Cookie Policy
• Taylor & Francis Online
• Taylor & Francis Group
• Students/Researchers
• Librarians/Institutions

Connect with us

Registered in England & Wales No. 3099067 5 Howick Place | London | SW1P 1WG © 2024 Informa UK Limited

• Architecture and Design
• Asian and Pacific Studies
• Business and Economics
• Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
• Computer Sciences
• Cultural Studies
• Engineering
• General Interest
• Geosciences
• Industrial Chemistry
• Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
• Jewish Studies
• Library and Information Science, Book Studies
• Life Sciences
• Linguistics and Semiotics
• Literary Studies
• Materials Sciences
• Mathematics
• Social Sciences
• Sports and Recreation
• Theology and Religion
• Publish your article
• The role of authors
• Promoting your article
• Abstracting & indexing
• Publishing Ethics
• Why publish with De Gruyter
• How to publish with De Gruyter
• Our book series
• Our subject areas
• Your digital product at De Gruyter
• Contribute to our reference works
• Product information
• Tools & resources
• Product Information
• Promotional Materials
• Orders and Inquiries
• FAQ for Library Suppliers and Book Sellers
• Repository Policy
• Free access policy
• Open Access agreements
• Database portals
• For Authors
• Customer service
• People + Culture
• Journal Management
• How to join us
• Working at De Gruyter
• Mission & Vision
• De Gruyter Foundation
• De Gruyter Ebound
• Our Responsibility
• Partner publishers

Your purchase has been completed. Your documents are now available to view.

Crimes of Passion

Repräsentationen der sexualpathologie im frühen 20. jahrhundert.

• Edited by: Oliver Böni and Japhet Johnstone
• Preface by: Scott Spector
• X / Twitter

Please login or register with De Gruyter to order this product.

• Languages: German, English
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Copyright year: 2015
• Audience: Academics (Cultural Studies, Literary Studies, History, Sociology, Psychology)
• Front matter: 10
• Main content: 370
• Illustrations: 28
• Keywords: Sexuality in literature ; sexual pathology ; sexology
• Published: November 13, 2015
• ISBN: 9783110420142
• Published: October 29, 2015
• ISBN: 9783110419900

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings
• My Bibliography
• Collections
• Citation manager

Save citation to file

Email citation, add to collections.

• Create a new collection
• Add to an existing collection

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search, create a file for external citation management software, your rss feed.

• Search in PubMed
• Search in NLM Catalog
• Add to Search

Crimes of passion: When romantic obsession leads to abusive relationships

Affiliation.

• 1 Department of Psychology, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
• PMID: 33887069
• DOI: 10.1111/jopy.12642

Objective: This research examines the relationship between passion for a romantic partner and obsessive relational intrusion (ORI) which is defined as repeated and unwanted behaviors toward a partner that invade his/her personal privacy and cause fear for his/her safety.

Method: Based on the dualistic model of passion, we predicted that obsessive passion (OP) would be associated with fear of abandonment, which in turn would be associated with ORI. In contrast, harmonious passion (HP) should not be associated with ORI.

Results: Four studies (N = 1257) supported these predictions. Study 1 found cross-sectional support for these hypotheses from the victim's perspective. Study 2 replicated Study 1 and extended it to the perpetrator's perspective by demonstrating that the relationship between passion and ORI is mediated by fear of abandonment. Study 3 replicated these findings using an experimental manipulation of passion. Study 4 found similar results by experimentally manipulating fear of abandonment, the mediator, to demonstrate its causal influence on ORI.

Conclusions: Taken together, the present results demonstrate that passion and fear of abandonment play an important role in the type of behavior people are willing to pursue to maintain their romantic relationship.

Keywords: abuse; fear of abandonment; obsessive relational intrusion; passion; stalking.

© 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC.

PubMed Disclaimer

• Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Sage.
• Arbuckle, J. L. (2007). AMOS (Version 7) [Computer program]. SPSS.
• Barbaree, H. E., Langton, C. M., & Peacock, E. J. (2006). Different actuarial risk measures produce different risk rankings for sexual offenders. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 18, 423-440. https://doi.org/10.1177/107906320601800408
• Basile, K. C., Arias, I., Desai, S., & Thompson, M. P. (2004). The differential association of intimate partner physical, sexual, psychological, and stalking violence and posttraumatic stress symptoms in a nationally representative sample of women. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 17, 413-421. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOTS.0000048954.50232.d8
• Baum, K., Catalina, S., Rand, M., & Rose, K. (2009). Stalking victimization in the United States. The United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
• Search in MeSH

Related information

Linkout - more resources, full text sources, other literature sources.

• scite Smart Citations

Research Materials

• NCI CPTC Antibody Characterization Program

Miscellaneous

• NCI CPTAC Assay Portal

• Citation Manager

NCBI Literature Resources

MeSH PMC Bookshelf Disclaimer

The PubMed wordmark and PubMed logo are registered trademarks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Unauthorized use of these marks is strictly prohibited.

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

Here's how you know

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock A locked padlock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

NCJRS Virtual Library

Crime of passion - murder and the murderer, additional details.

Steven Long , 111 North Canal Street , Chicago , IL 60606 , United States

No download available

Availability, related topics.

• Help & FAQ

Crimes of passion: When romantic obsession leads to abusive relationships

Research output : Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Objective: This research examines the relationship between passion for a romantic partner and obsessive relational intrusion (ORI) which is defined as repeated and unwanted behaviors toward a partner that invade his/her personal privacy and cause fear for his/her safety. Method: Based on the dualistic model of passion, we predicted that obsessive passion (OP) would be associated with fear of abandonment, which in turn would be associated with ORI. In contrast, harmonious passion (HP) should not be associated with ORI. Results: Four studies (N = 1257) supported these predictions. Study 1 found cross-sectional support for these hypotheses from the victim's perspective. Study 2 replicated Study 1 and extended it to the perpetrator's perspective by demonstrating that the relationship between passion and ORI is mediated by fear of abandonment. Study 3 replicated these findings using an experimental manipulation of passion. Study 4 found similar results by experimentally manipulating fear of abandonment, the mediator, to demonstrate its causal influence on ORI. Conclusions: Taken together, the present results demonstrate that passion and fear of abandonment play an important role in the type of behavior people are willing to pursue to maintain their romantic relationship.

• fear of abandonment
• obsessive relational intrusion

ASJC Scopus subject areas

• Social Psychology

Access to Document

• 10.1111/jopy.12642

Other files and links

• Link to publication in Scopus
• Link to the citations in Scopus

Fingerprint

• Romantic Relationship Psychology 100%
• Dualistic Model of Passion Psychology 100%
• Harmonious Passion Psychology 100%
• Obsessive Relational Intrusion Keyphrases 100%
• Crimes of Passion Keyphrases 100%
• Repeated Behavior Keyphrases 20%
• Perpetrator's Perspective Keyphrases 20%
• Victim Perspective Keyphrases 20%

T1 - Crimes of passion

T2 - When romantic obsession leads to abusive relationships

AU - Bélanger, Jocelyn J.

AU - Collier, Katherine E.

AU - Nisa, Claudia F.

AU - Schumpe, Birga M.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC.

PY - 2021/12

Y1 - 2021/12

N2 - Objective: This research examines the relationship between passion for a romantic partner and obsessive relational intrusion (ORI) which is defined as repeated and unwanted behaviors toward a partner that invade his/her personal privacy and cause fear for his/her safety. Method: Based on the dualistic model of passion, we predicted that obsessive passion (OP) would be associated with fear of abandonment, which in turn would be associated with ORI. In contrast, harmonious passion (HP) should not be associated with ORI. Results: Four studies (N = 1257) supported these predictions. Study 1 found cross-sectional support for these hypotheses from the victim's perspective. Study 2 replicated Study 1 and extended it to the perpetrator's perspective by demonstrating that the relationship between passion and ORI is mediated by fear of abandonment. Study 3 replicated these findings using an experimental manipulation of passion. Study 4 found similar results by experimentally manipulating fear of abandonment, the mediator, to demonstrate its causal influence on ORI. Conclusions: Taken together, the present results demonstrate that passion and fear of abandonment play an important role in the type of behavior people are willing to pursue to maintain their romantic relationship.

AB - Objective: This research examines the relationship between passion for a romantic partner and obsessive relational intrusion (ORI) which is defined as repeated and unwanted behaviors toward a partner that invade his/her personal privacy and cause fear for his/her safety. Method: Based on the dualistic model of passion, we predicted that obsessive passion (OP) would be associated with fear of abandonment, which in turn would be associated with ORI. In contrast, harmonious passion (HP) should not be associated with ORI. Results: Four studies (N = 1257) supported these predictions. Study 1 found cross-sectional support for these hypotheses from the victim's perspective. Study 2 replicated Study 1 and extended it to the perpetrator's perspective by demonstrating that the relationship between passion and ORI is mediated by fear of abandonment. Study 3 replicated these findings using an experimental manipulation of passion. Study 4 found similar results by experimentally manipulating fear of abandonment, the mediator, to demonstrate its causal influence on ORI. Conclusions: Taken together, the present results demonstrate that passion and fear of abandonment play an important role in the type of behavior people are willing to pursue to maintain their romantic relationship.

KW - fear of abandonment

KW - obsessive relational intrusion

KW - passion

KW - stalking

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85104971285&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85104971285&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/jopy.12642

DO - 10.1111/jopy.12642

M3 - Article

C2 - 33887069

AN - SCOPUS:85104971285

SN - 0022-3506

JO - Journal of Personality

JF - Journal of Personality

• COVID-19 Full Coverage
• Cover Stories
• Ulat Filipino
• Special Reports
• Personal Finance
• Other sports
• Pinoy Achievers
• Immigration Guide
• Science and Research
• Technology, Gadgets and Gaming
• Chika Minute
• Showbiz Abroad
• Family and Relationships
• Art and Culture
• Health and Wellness
• Shopping and Fashion
• Hobbies and Activities
• News Hardcore
• Walang Pasok
• Transportation
• Missing Persons
• Community Bulletin Board
• GMA Public Affairs
• State of the Nation
• Unang Balita
• Balitanghali
• News TV Live

Lawmaker eyes repeal of 'crime of passion' as legal defense

The repeal of the Revised Penal Code provision allowing crime of passion, or the defense used if the killing or infliction of injuries were done out of a "justified burst of passion," has been proposed in the House of Representatives.

4Ps party-list Representative JC Abalos made the proposal under House Bill 7567, which deletes Article 247 of the Revised Penal Code which states that "[A]ny legally married person who having surprised his spouse in the act of committing sexual intercourse with another person, shall kill any of them or both of them in the act or immediately thereafter, or shall inflict upon them any serious physical injury, shall suffer the penalty of destierro (prohibiting from residing within 25 kilometers from the concerned individual)."

Article 247 also states that if the offender would inflict upon offending party physical injuries of any other kind, the offender will be exempt from punishment.

"Honor-based violence is gender-based violence. Killing, and inflicting violence can never be justified; even under the pretext of honor and reputation. Case records show that victims are predominantly women," Abalos said in his explanatory note.

Abalos cited Article 2 Section 11 of the Constitution, which provides that "[T]he State values the dignity of every human person and guarantees full respect for human rights."

Abalos also argued that while the first two paragraphs of Article 247 apply to both spouses, the third paragraph only pertains to daughters, not to sons.

He was referring to Article 247's provisions stating "[T]hese rules shall be applicable, under the same circumstances, to parents with respect to their daughters under eighteen years of age, and their seducer, while the daughters are living with their parents" and that "any person who shall promote or facilitate the prostitution of his wife or daughter, or shall otherwise have consented to the infidelity of the other spouse shall not be entitled to the benefits of this article."

"The third paragraph pertains only to daughters and not sons. These reveal discriminatory gender-based presumptions under the existing law. Hence the repeal of this provision is earnestly sought," Abalos said.

House Bill 7567 has been referred to the House revision of laws panel chaired by Manila Representative Eduard Maceda last March 15, or the last session day before Congress adjourned for the Holy Week break until May 8. —Llanesca T. Panti/KBK, GMA Integrated News