Two Pink Lines: An Exploratory, Comparative Study of Florida’s Pregnancy-associated and Nonpregnancy-associated Intimate Partner Homicides

• Author: Sonya Spence,Lin Huff-Corzine
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10887679211028894
• Published date: 01 May 2023
• Date: 01 May 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/10887679211028894

Homicide Studies

2023, Vol. 27(2) 248 –274

© 2021 SAGE Publications

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/10887679211028894

journals.sagepub.com/home/hsx

Article

Two Pink Lines: An

Exploratory, Comparative

Study of Florida’s Pregnancy-

associated and Nonpregnancy-

associated Intimate Partner

Homicides

Sonya Spence1 and Lin Huff-Corzine1

Abstract

Pregnancy-associated Intimate Partner Homicides (PAIPHs) are murders of pregnant

women by a former or current intimate partner. This study uses aggregated public

data from 2000 to 2019 to examine 33 Florida Pregnancy-associated Intimate Partner

Homicides and a comparison group of 33 Nonpregnant Intimate Partner Homicides

(NIPHs). Findings show that unwanted pregnancies or relationships, avoidance of

prosecution, doubts concerning the unborn child’s paternity, infidelity accusations,

and the victim’s drug use are risk factors for Florida’s Pregnancy-associated Intimate

Partner Homicides. Moreover, findings suggest a need for Maternal Intimate Partner

Violence programs, policies, and interventions targeted toward pregnant women and

their intimate partners.

Keywords

pregnancy-associated intimate partner homicide, intimate partner, victim/offender

relationship, intimate partner homicide, pregnant, homicide, intimate partner

violence, murder-suicide, domestic violence, homicide, murder, pregnancy violence

Introduction

The most dangerous place for a woman is at home with her intimate partner.

1University of Central Florida, Orlando, USA

Corresponding Author:

Sonya Spence, University of Central Florida, Howard Phillips Hall, 4000 Central Florida Boulevard #403,

Orlando, FL 32816-2368, USA.

Email: sspence8@knights.ucf.edu

1028894HSXXXX10.1177/10887679211028894Homicide StudiesSpence and Hu-Corzine

research-article2021

Spence and Huff-Corzine 249

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV, 2020, p. 1),

“domestic violence is the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault,

and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control

perpetrated by one intimate partner against another. It includes physical violence, sex-

ual violence, threats, economic, and emotional/psychological abuse.”

Domestic violence (DV) exists in every community and affects people regardless

of age, gender, gender identity, disability, socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, sexual

orientation, nationality, or religion. Ten million Americans, which averages out to 20

people each minute, are physically victimized by an intimate partner every year,

and many more suffer from emotional, psychological, and economic abuse (NCADV,

p. 1). Twenty-five percent of women and just over 14% of men have been victims of

severe physical abuse such as strangling, beating, or burning, in their lifetime (NCADV,

2020, p. 1). Almost 21% of high school women and 43% of college women report

violent or abusive behavior on the part of a dating partner (Teen, Campus & Dating

Violence, p. 1). Important for the current study, one in six women are estimated to be

abused for the first-time during pregnancy (The American College of Obstetricians

and Gynecologists (ACOG)) with between 6% and 22% of pregnant women experi-

encing intimate partner violence (IPV) (Gunter, 2007). The consequences of the physi-

cal violence indicate that about 20% of women compared to only 5% of men require

medical care.1

Among murder victims in the U.S., over 50% and perhaps as high as 68.3% (Klein

& Klein, 2020, p. 8) of women killed suffered their death at the hands of their intimate

partner compared to just 7.7% of men who were killed by an intimate partner (Ertl

et al., 2019; NCADV, 2020, p. 2). As a result, homicide is one of the leading causes of

death for women in the U.S. and the leading cause of maternal mortality (Gunter,

2007). Young Black women, ages 15 to 24, have the highest incidence of homicide for

women, usually perpetrated by an intimate partner. Young White women, ages 15 to

24 have the second highest incidence of homicide, also usually perpetrated by an inti-

mate partner (Gunter, 2007).

Briefly stated, compared to other studies of intimate partner homicide, very few

have focused on the murder of pregnant women by intimate partners despite some

researchers’ claim, for example, Horon and Cheng (2001), that it is the number one

cause of death for pregnant women. As the first study to explore pregnancy-associated

homicide in Florida, as well as to include selected perpetrator motives, the current

research expands our knowledge related to women and homicide by (1) examining the

incidence of homicide victimization among 66 Florida women within the context of

intimate partner relationships between 2000 and 2019; (2) comparing the 33 women

killed while pregnant matched for race and age with 33 women murdered by intimate

partners but who were not pregnant, and (3) providing perpetrator and locational

contexts.

Literature Review

Intimate partner violence and homicide is a social problem in need of more research to

address potential preventative measures. Much of the existing literature on domestic