Why Do They Kill?

Men Who Murder Their Intimate Partners

By: David Adams

Write A Review

Hardcover | 21 September 2007

At a Glance

Hardcover
296 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
23.5 x 15.88 x 2.54

Hardcover

$295.99

or 4 interest-free payments of $74.00 with

Ships in 15 to 25 business days

Moving backwards from the murders thirty-one men committed, through their adult lives, relationship histories, and their childhoods, David Adams sought to understand what motivated these men to kill. The patterns he found reveal that the murders were neither impulsive crimes of passion nor were they indiscriminate. Why Do They Kill? is the first book to profile different types of wife killers, and to examine the courtship patterns of abusive men. The author shows that wife murders are not, for the most part, "crimes of passion," but culminations of lifelong predisposing factors of the men who murder, and that many elements of their crimes are foretold by their past behavior in intimate relationships.

Key turning points of these relationships include the first emergence of the man's violence, his blaming of the victim, her attempts to resist, his escalation, her attempts to end the relationship, and his punishment for her defiance. Critical perspective on the men's accounts comes from interviews with victims of attempted homicide (standing in for the murder victims) who survived shootings, stabbings, and strangulation. These women detail their partner's escalating patterns of child abuse, sexual violence, terroristic threats, and stalking. The section on help-seeking patterns of victims helps to dispel notions of learned helplessness among victims.

Industry Reviews

"David Adams's interviews with 31 men who killed intimate female partners break new ground in the study of domestic violence and homicide. . . . The killings emerge as neither random, nor spontaneous. Rather, these tragedies are steeped in a complex melange of biography, social forces, and the immediacies and practicalities of human violence. A compelling read."
--Neil Websdale, author of Understanding Domestic Homicide
"From this work we can improve our threat assessment and offer better information for victims."
--Deborah D. Tucker, Executive Director, National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence

Shipping

	Standard Shipping	Express Shipping
Metro postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Regional postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Rural postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95

Orders over $79.00 qualify for free shipping.

How to return your order

At Booktopia, we offer hassle-free returns in accordance with our returns policy. If you wish to return an item, please get in touch with Booktopia Customer Care.

Additional postage charges may be applicable.

Defective items

If there is a problem with any of the items received for your order then the Booktopia Customer Care team is ready to assist you.

For more info please visit our Help Centre.

You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Society & Culture Social Groups Gender Studies Gender Studies: Women and Girls Social Issues & Processes Violence in Society Biographies & True Stories True Stories True Crime Social Services & Welfare Crime & Criminology

Offenders Psychology Criminal or Forensic Psychology

Other Editions and Formats

Paperback

Published: 21st September 2007

View Product

Men who kill their partners	p. 1
Recognizing abusive men	p. 23
Killer profiles	p. 35
The killers' upbringings	p. 120
Short courtships	p. 138
Child abuse	p. 148
Patterns of possession and punishment	p. 163
Victim help-seeking	p. 220
Conclusions and recommendations	p. 251
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

Why Do They Kill?

Men Who Murder Their Intimate Partners

At a Glance

Hardcover

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

Other Editions and Formats

Paperback

More in Crime & Criminology

Identity Unknown

The gripping new Kay Scarpetta thriller for 2024

The Dark Prince Of Melbourne

The short flashy life of Squizzy Taylor and the birth of organised crime in Australia

The Dream Hotel

Shortlisted for the 2025 Women's Prize for Fiction

The Trading Game

A Confession

The Tall Man

Death and Life on Palm Island

I Catch Killers

The Life and Many Deaths of a Homicide Detective

Crime Scene Investigations

Thrilling True Tales of Crimes Solved by Forensics

Someone Somewhere Knows Something

A gripping collection of true crime stories based on the hit podcast The Missing Australia, for readers of I Catch Killers and Stalking Claremont

Behind the Badge

The remarkable & compelling true story of a boy from Egypt who became one of Australia's most senior police, for readers of THE GOOD COP & I CATCH KILLERS

Mindhunter

Inside the FBI Elite Serial Crime Unit (Now A Netflix Series)

A History of Central Banking and the Enslavement of Mankind

A History of Central Banking and the Enslavement of Mankind

Daisy Haites

Magnolia Parks: Book 2

Inside

Winning, Losing and Starting Again: The new memoir by tennis legend Boris Becker

BADNESS

From the author of the number one bestselling crime book I CATCH KILLERS

The Fatal Shore

Papillon

Harper Perennial Modern Classics

Australia's Most Murderous Prison

Behind the Walls of Goulburn Jail

Red Notice

How I Became Putin's No. 1 Enemy

Inside the Cartel

How an Undercover FBI Agent Smuggled Cocaine, Laundered Cash and Dismantled a Colombian Narco-Empire

In Cold Blood

1st Edition : Popular Penguins

The Arsonist

A Mind on Fire

Discipline and Punish

The Birth of the Prison

Midnight and Blue

The Instant Number 1 Sunday Times bestseller - 'Unmissable' (Mick Herron)

This product is categorised by