Case Study: Intimate Partner Homicide

Simon Gittany was charged with the murder of Lisa Cecilia Harnum on 30 July 2011, was later found guilty on 27 November 2013 and sentenced to 18 years imprisoned without parole. At the time of Lisa Harnum's death, she and Simon Gittany were living together and were engaged to be married. Their apartment was on the 15th floor of a block of apartments in Sydney. Miss Harnum fell to her death from the balcony of that apartment. Simon Gittany was found to have deliberately lifted Miss Harnum over the balustrade and "unloaded" her body over the edge where she then fell to her death.

Throughout the world, we hear many stories about individuals being victimized, and individuals who have are the perpetrators. Also, many of these news segments are based off of headed situations between intimate relationships. Many relationships become this way because of stress about work, paying bills, past circumstances, and much more. There are many micro and macro level risk factors that pertain to victims (prior history of intimate partner violence, female sex, and youth), and perpetration (anger issues, low self-esteem, low income, and depression). “These factors are some of the very important factors that shape victimization and perpetration in intimate partner violence” (Seccombe, 2015, p.318).

Domestic Homicide is the killing of one person by another within the household. Many cases of domestic homicide take place each year. A third of all murders are committed by women. There is also a forty-one percent chance that a woman was the murderer in a spouse murder trial (Dawson 1). Women should have their cases taken seriously and not with sympathy just because they are smaller and weaker than their counterpart. There are Laws and Protection Orders provided throughout the United States, so women should not have to deal with any type of violence or abuse. If they aren’t treated with violence, then there shouldn’t be any reason for women to try to kill their abusive husband. Women should be tried for murder of their

The type of homicide in the Simon Gittany murder case would be considered Intimate partner homicide (IPH). Intimate partner homicide is distinguished by the dynamic of the relationship between victim and perpetrator characterised by an emotional attachment, including spouse, former spouse, boyfriends, girlfriends or same sex partners (Campbell, 2007). According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, homicides involving intimate partners represent 24% of all homicides nationwide and in approximately 4 of 5 cases, the victim was female and the perpetrator was male. Simone Gittany and Lisa Cecilia Harnum lived together in a de facto relationship from 2010 on the 15th floor of a central apartment block in Sydney from where

1. Type of Homicide On 21 October 2013 Simon Gittany stood charged with the murder of Lisa Harnum. It was alleged that on the morning of Saturday 30 July Mr Gittany deliberately threw Ms Harnum off the 15th floor balcony of the apartment they shared (R v Gittany, 2013).

Bath, N.Y. (WENY) -- An Elmira man who served as the 'look out' the night of Kelley Stage Clayton's death will be sentenced on Monday.

To begin with, Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) has been around for a very long time and it is still a present issue in the United States. There are many forms intimate partner violence such as, sexual, physical, emotional, and psychological. IPV occurs among all religious, socioeconomic, and cultural groups in the United States and other countries. As many people know intimate partner violence tends to come with consequences after the damage is done to the victim. Intimate partner violence does not just happen out of nowhere where the perpetrator thinks they have the right to be violent towards their spouse. The issue of IPV is connected to the cycle of violence in ways that it gives you an idea as to why the perpetrator thinks they have the right to hit the victim. In many cases not only do they think they have the right to due such thing but also feel like they have control over their spouse and have a mindset that they own them and will do anything just to keep them. Often the perpetrators feel guilty for being violent towards their loved ones that they come to a point of being apologetic and doing anything in their power to keep them. This author believes that intimate partner violence is a big issue and for many victims it is hard for them to escape the relationship. The victims go through so much in staying in the relationship that once they decide to definitely leave the relationship they end up suffering consequences and seeking available resources to

In 2007, domestic violence resulted in 2,340 deaths in the United States, and 70% of those killed were female (CDC, 2012). Each year in the United States, one in four women are victims of intimate partner violence (Stahly, 2008) and the U.S. Department of Justice has estimated that this number could be doubled as it only represents the women who repot abuse to the police.

Most violence toward women is from a male partner, which this also affects their children. Public health has been trying to find the cause of violence on women from a male partner, which has a bad consequence for them. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is the most common violence toward women. On national and international levels low levels of education and income correlate to domestic violence, and it has been indicated to be transmitted across generation. In European countries a widespread rate of family violence, they came from low economic living conditions, traditional gender attitudes against women, strict parenting, and general tolerance of violent behavior. Depending on how one person can deal with violent behavior will influence their

Forensic psychology allows forensic psychologists to understand why a criminal committed a crime. According to a new study by Robert Hanlon (2015) , director of the forensic psychology research lab at Northwestern University, "Men who murder their wives or girlfriends are a distinctly different group than those who kill strangers." Studies on domestic homicides show that they have more severe mental illness (psychotic disorders), few previous felony convictions,more cognitive impairment, and are less intelligent. "Studies on spontaneous homicides reveal that they're often premeditated." (Marla Paul, 2015) More than 80% of the killers had a history of head trauma, more than 60% of domestic homicide killers had used drugs or alcohol before

Most studies on Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) have focused specifically on its physical, psychological and sexual manifestations. Economic abuse is highly correlated with the mainstream forms of violence and it is seen as another commonly tactic used by an abuser. Although the role of financial issues and economic circumstances constitute a crucial dimension in women’s experiences of IPV, it is receiving lesser empirical attention when compared to the other forms of violence. The study seeks to present an integrative account of existing literature regarding the issues of economic abuse and describe its influence on quality of life on victims, with the objective of discussing the methodological and conceptual differences between studies

Domestic or Intimate Partner Violence is not just hitting, or fighting, or an occasional mean disagreement. It's an abuse of power, the stronger opposing its will on the weak. It’s a multi-layered illness that terrorize and control their victims emotionally, physical, and economically. I have been blessed to have been raised in a family that provided a home atmosphere that was loving, nurturing, and safe. Unfortunately, many families or relationships aren’t so lucky. During my military career, I have witness physical injuries; testified on behalf of the abused; investigated DV/IPV first hand as a Platoon Commander and Company Executive Officer in the United States Marine Corps. In some cases, the physical damage involved significant trauma

Randolph, MA has 32112 people 53.7% of them are female. In a study conducted by Stuart Green in august 2013 Randolph domestic violence calls raise compare to close towns. There were 129 people that was taken into custody due to intimate partners violence, from August 2013 to August 2014 which went up to 147 arrests August 2014 to current compare to 55 in Holbrook the nearest town .(Stuart ,Green, Randolph herald Aug. 2014). Healthy People 2020 in an effort to reduce the rate of IPV pinpoint several objectives on Injury and violence In this paper the healthy people objective 2020 IVP 39.0 Injury and Violence along with Healthy People 2020 Objective: IVP-39.1(Developmental) Reduce physical violence by current or former intimate partners (www.healthypeople.gov) will be analyzed.

In the United States, approximately 1.5 million women report some form of intimate partner violence (IPV) each year and of those an estimated 324,000 are pregnant (Deshpande & Lewis-O'Connor, 2013). According to Deshpande and Lewis-O’Connor (2013), IPV is defined as abuse that may be actual or threatened by an intimate partner that can be physical, sexual, psychological, or emotional in nature. It is important for health care providers to realize IPV does not only include physical or sexual abuse but also includes name calling, financial control, constant criticism, and isolating women away from their families and friends (Deshpande & Lewis-O'Connor, 2013; Smith, 2008). There are 3 phases of abuse tension building

This is case that faces Mary Barnett. The issue in this case is that On January 23, the litigant, Mary Barnett, left Chicago to visit her life partner in San Francisco having left her six-month-old little girl, Alison, unattended in the apartment. Mary Barnett returned home a week later to find that her child had died of dehydration. She called the police and at first, to let them know that she had left her kid with a baby sitter. She later expressed that she had left the child and she didn 't mean to return, and that she knew Alison would die in a day or two. She has been accused of wrongdoing of second-degree murder; purposeful homicide without intention. In the event that she is sentenced, she could face up to eighteen years in prison. This piece of writing tries to give the verdict of the case after critically examining both prosecution and defendant side.