Monster in your bed: Challenging the Ideal Victim and Offender: Narratives, motives and constructions in Intimate Partner Homicide and Attempted Homicide Rulings from Skåne (2019-2024)
(2025) SOLM02 20251Department of Sociology of Law
- Abstract
- IPH, specifically men's lethal violence against females, persists as a persuasive issue, both internationally and nationally. This is despite political reforms such as the 2020 legal amendment addressing such violence. In response to contemporary concerns and to analyse the phenomena deeper, this thesis focuses on the narratives, dynamics, and motives presented in court rulings concerning IPH and AIPH from six district courts localised in Skåne between 2020- and 2024.
Utilising an overarching situational knowledge methodological approach, this thesis employs a thematic and discourse analysis to examine power dynamics, language use, and prevalent social structures within court documents. The analytical process is based on Nils Christie's... (More) - IPH, specifically men's lethal violence against females, persists as a persuasive issue, both internationally and nationally. This is despite political reforms such as the 2020 legal amendment addressing such violence. In response to contemporary concerns and to analyse the phenomena deeper, this thesis focuses on the narratives, dynamics, and motives presented in court rulings concerning IPH and AIPH from six district courts localised in Skåne between 2020- and 2024.
Utilising an overarching situational knowledge methodological approach, this thesis employs a thematic and discourse analysis to examine power dynamics, language use, and prevalent social structures within court documents. The analytical process is based on Nils Christie's (2001) theoretical concepts of the ideal victim and ideal offender, which are expansively informed by a feminist and intersectional framework which particularly challenges binaries and equality. The analysis found recurring themes concerning the different relationship dynamics, criminal approach, prior abuse, and mental illness, which often intersect with substance use and overall discourse narratives pertaining to provocation or claims of self-defence. Overall, victims were frequently attacked while asleep, had experienced previous intimate violence, and were intoxicated. Comparatively, the perpetrators frequently had a prior record of mental illness, often combined with regular narcotic usage, and several employed sharp force in addition to other volatile forms during the offence. However, alcohol intoxication was less frequent.
This thesis's findings broadly align with both international and national results, illustrating the need for a critical examination of the socio-legal dimensions of IPH and AIPH. While a feminist perspective and intersectionality could not be explicitly theoreticized based on the court documents, they provided a deeper analytical understanding, especially for the discourse analysis. Therefore, further research is warranted to investigate the mechanisms and dimensions underlying the phenomena, the underexamined factors, and the current practices' evaluation. Conclusively, lethal violence against females is not usually perpetrated by a monstrous stranger but committed by someone intimate, emphasising the unsettling and ordinary nature of such crimes. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9193579
- author
- Bojestig, Anna LU
- supervisor
-
- Jannice Käll LU
- organization
- course
- SOLM02 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Intimate partner homicide, Intimate partner violence, ideal victim, ideal offender, intersectionality, domestic violence, interpersonal homicide, discourse-thematic analysis
- language
- English
- id
- 9193579
- date added to LUP
- 2025-06-23 09:27:09
- date last changed
- 2025-06-23 09:27:09
@misc{9193579,
abstract = {{IPH, specifically men's lethal violence against females, persists as a persuasive issue, both internationally and nationally. This is despite political reforms such as the 2020 legal amendment addressing such violence. In response to contemporary concerns and to analyse the phenomena deeper, this thesis focuses on the narratives, dynamics, and motives presented in court rulings concerning IPH and AIPH from six district courts localised in Skåne between 2020- and 2024.
Utilising an overarching situational knowledge methodological approach, this thesis employs a thematic and discourse analysis to examine power dynamics, language use, and prevalent social structures within court documents. The analytical process is based on Nils Christie's (2001) theoretical concepts of the ideal victim and ideal offender, which are expansively informed by a feminist and intersectional framework which particularly challenges binaries and equality. The analysis found recurring themes concerning the different relationship dynamics, criminal approach, prior abuse, and mental illness, which often intersect with substance use and overall discourse narratives pertaining to provocation or claims of self-defence. Overall, victims were frequently attacked while asleep, had experienced previous intimate violence, and were intoxicated. Comparatively, the perpetrators frequently had a prior record of mental illness, often combined with regular narcotic usage, and several employed sharp force in addition to other volatile forms during the offence. However, alcohol intoxication was less frequent.
This thesis's findings broadly align with both international and national results, illustrating the need for a critical examination of the socio-legal dimensions of IPH and AIPH. While a feminist perspective and intersectionality could not be explicitly theoreticized based on the court documents, they provided a deeper analytical understanding, especially for the discourse analysis. Therefore, further research is warranted to investigate the mechanisms and dimensions underlying the phenomena, the underexamined factors, and the current practices' evaluation. Conclusively, lethal violence against females is not usually perpetrated by a monstrous stranger but committed by someone intimate, emphasising the unsettling and ordinary nature of such crimes.}},
author = {{Bojestig, Anna}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Monster in your bed: Challenging the Ideal Victim and Offender: Narratives, motives and constructions in Intimate Partner Homicide and Attempted Homicide Rulings from Skåne (2019-2024)}},
year = {{2025}},
}