By Patrick A. Langan, Ph.D.

 BJS Statistician

 and John M. Dawson 

 former BJS Statistician

Following are highlights from Spouse Murder Defendants

in Large Urban Counties. The full report may be ordered

using the form on page 4.

Number of spouse murder defendants and their 

demographic characteristics

In 1988 the justice system in the Nation's 75 largest counties disposed of an estimated 540 spouse murder cases.

Husbands charged with killing their wife outnumbered

wives charged with killing their husband. Of the 540, 318

 or 59%  were husband defendants and 222  or

41%  were wife defendants.

Blacks comprised 

55% of the 540 

defendants, and

whites comprised

43%. Among husband defendants

51% were black and

45% were white.

Among wife defendants 61% were

black and 39% were

white. In 97% of

the murders, both

spouses were the

same race. 

Ages of spouse

murder defendants

ranged from 18 to

87. The average age was 39. The average age of husband defendants was 41; of wife defendants, 37 years. 

Arrest charge

First-degree murder was the most frequent charge at 

arrest, accounting for 70% of defendants. In descending

order of seriousness, charges were distributed this way

across the 540 spouse murder defendants:

 70% first-degree murder 

 24% second-degree murder 

 6% nonnegligent manslaughter

How the justice system disposed of spouse murder

cases

Cases were disposed of in one of three ways: 

(1) the prosecutor declined to prosecute; or 

U.S. Department of Justice 

Office of Justice Programs

Bureau of Justice Statistics

Executive Summary

Spouse Murder Defendants 

in Large Urban Counties

September 1995, NCJ-156831

In spouse murder cases, wife defendants were less likely to be convicted 

and to receive severe sentences than husband defendants

Note: Sentencing percentages in this chart have as their base all defendants, whether convicted or not.

(Average prison term:

6 years)

(Average prison term:

16.5 years)

Sentenced to

Sentenced to

318 husbands

222 wives

11 % Not prosecuted

46 % Pleaded guilty

41 % Convicted at trial

 2 % Acquitted at trial

16 % Not prosecuted

39 % Pleaded guilty

31 % Convicted at trial

14 % Acquitted at trial

Probation 5 %

Jail 1 %

Probation 12 %

Jail 1 %

Prison 57 %

Prison 81 %
(2) the defendant pleaded not guilty, stood trial, and 

 was either acquitted or convicted; or

(3) the defendant pleaded guilty.

Of the 540 spouse murder defendants, 232  or 43% 

pleaded guilty to killing their spouse, and 238  or 44%

 pleaded not guilty and stood trial. The remaining 70

persons  or 13%  were not prosecuted.

Outcome for spouse murder defendants who pleaded

not guilty and stood trial

Of the 238 who pleaded not guilty, 63% were tried by 

a jury and the remaining 37% were tried by a judge. 

Together, judges and juries acquitted 16% of the 238

spouse murder defendants and convicted 84%  or 

199 persons  of killing their spouse.

Bench trials (trials before a judge) had a higher acquittal

rate than jury trials: 26% of bench trials ended in acquittal, versus 11% of jury trials.

Defendants convicted of killing their spouse

Of the 540 spouse murder defendants, 431 (or 80%) were

ultimately convicted of killing their spouse. Their conviction was the result of either pleading guilty (232 persons)

or being convicted at trial (199 persons).

While most persons arrested (70%) for spouse murder

were charged with first-degree murder, most persons 

convicted (52%) of spouse murder had negligent or nonnegligent manslaughter as their conviction offense.

Sentences for defendants convicted of killing 

their spouse

Of the 431 defendants convicted of killing their spouse,

89% were sentenced to a State prison, 1% were sentenced to a county jail, and the remaining 10% received 

a sentence of straight probation (no prison or jail

confinement).

An estimated 12% of the 431 convicted spouse murderers

received a sentence to life imprisonment and 1% received

the death penalty.

Excluding life and death sentences, the average prison

term imposed was 13 years.

Wife defendants less likely to be convicted 

Wife defendants had a lower conviction rate than husband

defendants 

 Of the 222 wife defendants, 70% were convicted of killing their mate. By contrast, of the 318 husband defendants, 87% were convicted of spouse murder.

 Of the 100 wife defendants tried by either a judge or

jury, 31% were acquitted. But of the 138 husband 

defendants tried, 6% were acquitted.

 Of the 59 wife defendants tried by a jury, 27% were 

acquitted. But of the estimated 91 husband defendants

tried by a jury, none was acquitted.

Convicted wife defendants sentenced less severely

An estimated 156 wives and 275 husbands were convicted of killing their spouse. Convicted wives were less

likely than convicted husbands to be sentenced to prison,

and convicted wives received shorter prison sentences

than their male counterparts 

 81% of convicted wives but 94% of convicted husbands

received a prison sentence.

 On average, convicted wives received prison sentences

that were about 10 years shorter than what husbands 

received. Excluding life or death sentences, the average

prison sentence for killing a spouse was 6 years for wives

but 16.5 years for husbands.

 Among wives sentenced to prison, 15% received a sentence of 20 years or more (including life imprisonment and

the death penalty); among husbands, it was 43%.

Victim provocation more often present 

in wife defendant cases

According to information contained in prosecutor files,

more wife defendants (44%) than husband defendants

(10%) had been assaulted by their spouse (threatened

with a weapon or physically assaulted) at or around the

time of the murder.

Self-defense as possible explanation

for wives' lower conviction rate

In certain circumstances, extreme victim provocation may

justify taking a life in self-defense. Provocation was more

often present in wife defendant cases, and wife defendants were less likely than husband defendants to be convicted, suggesting that the relatively high rate of victim

provocation characteristic of wife defendant cases was

one of the reasons wife defendants had a lower conviction

rate than husband defendants. Consistent with that, 

2 Spouse Murder Defendants in Large Urban Counties: Executive Summary 
of the provoked wife defendants, 56% were convicted,

significantly lower than either the 86% conviction rate 

for unprovoked wife defendants or the 88% conviction 

rate for unprovoked husbands.

No explanation for why State prison sentences were,

on average, 10 years shorter for wife defendants 

than husband defendants

Wives received shorter prison sentences than husbands

(a 10-year difference, on average) even when the comparison is restricted to defendants who were alike in

terms of whether or not they were provoked 

 The average prison sentence for unprovoked wife 

defendants was 7 years, or 10 years shorter than the 

average 17 years for unprovoked husband defendants.

Victim's race unrelated to outcomes

The victim was black in 55% of cases and white in 43%.

The likelihood of a defendant being convicted of spouse

murder was about the same whether the murder victim

was white or black. Among spouse murder defendants

whose victim was white, 81% were convicted. Among

those whose victim was black, 79% were convicted. 

Likewise, the sentence was unrelated to the victim's race.

The likelihood of a convicted spouse murderer receiving a

prison sentence was about the same whether the murder

victim was white or black: the convicted spouse murderer

was sentenced to prison in 93% of cases where the victim

was white, not significantly different from the 87% of

cases where the victim was black. The length of the

prison sentence imposed on a convicted spouse murderer

was generally unrelated to whether the murder victim was

white or black 

 For conviction for first-degree murder, the average

prison term (excluding life and death sentences) was 29

years in white-victim cases, not significantly different from

the 32 years in black-victim cases

 For conviction for second-degree murder, the average

prison term (excluding life sentences) was 19 years in

white-victim cases, significantly longer than the 13 years

in black-victim cases. However, 23% of convicted

second-degree murder defendants in black-victim cases

received a sentence of life imprisonment, compared to 

8% of defendants in white-victim cases.

 For conviction for nonnegligent manslaughter, the average prison term (excluding life sentences) was 8 years 

in white-victim cases, not significantly different from the

average 6 years in black-victim cases.

Defendant's race unrelated to outcomes

The likelihood of conviction, and of a prison sentence if

convicted, and the length of the prison sentence were

about the same whether the spouse murder defendant

was white or black 

 78% of white defendants were convicted, not significantly different from the 80% of black defendants.

 Among convicted spouse murderers, 93% of white 

defendants were sentenced to prison, not significantly 

different from the 88% of black defendants.

Processing time

Three measures of processing time were taken from the

day of the murder  to arrest, to indictment, and to final

disposition. Most spouse murder defendants were 

arrested on the same day the killing occurred. Average

time to indictment was 4 months. Average time to final

disposition was almost exactly 1 year.

For husbands tried by a jury, 121⁄2 months was the 

average elapsed time from the day of the murder to 

the conclusion of the jury trial. For wives tried by a jury 

it was significantly longer, about 181⁄2 months.

Methodology

This study is based upon a systematic sample of murder

cases disposed of in the 75 most populous counties in

1988. A case was considered disposed if the prosecutor

screened it out, if the defendant pleaded guilty, or if the

defendant went to trial and was either convicted or acquitted. The 75 are where a little over half of all murders in

the Nation occur. 

Spouse murder defendants in the sample were drawn

from State prosecutor files in 33 of the 75 counties. The

counties were widely scattered, from Los Angeles and

San Diego, Denver and Dallas, to Philadelphia and Dade

County (Miami). For each defendant, data collectors filled

out a lengthy questionnaire and prepared a brief narrative

from file information. Prosecutor files include such items

as the police arrest report, investigator reports, and information on how the case was disposed. Questionnaires

and narratives are the sources of data for this report.

The same database used in this report was previously

analyzed by John M. Dawson and Barbara Boland (Murder in Large Urban Counties, 1988, BJS Special Report,

NCJ-140614, May 1993) and by John M. Dawson and

Patrick A. Langan (Murder in Families, BJS Special Report, NCJ-143498, July 1994).

Spouse Murder Defendants in Large Urban Counties: Executive Summary 3
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