Citation

Gillis AR. Am. J. Sociol. 1996; 101(5): 1273-1305.

Affiliation

University of Toronto.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, University of Chicago Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11613234

Abstract

This article suggests that the growth of European states, the decline of familism, and the rise of individualism generated the institutionalization of judicial separation and divorce. Time-series analyses of France (1852-1908) reveal a persistent negative association between separation/divorce and domestic homicide, especially among males. Neither indicators of economic change nor trends in the wider pattern of violent crime account for the relationship. Although marital dissolution is a negative correlate of premeditated domestic homicide, the rate of separation/divorce is directly associated with spontaneous domestic homicide, for both females and males and may indicate that abandoned spouses can become homicidal.

Language: en