Honor Killings in the Middle East and North Africa

Abstract

A systematic review of the research literature on honor killings in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) indicates a paucity of studies relative to the presumed magnitude of the problem. Forty articles were reviewed and critically appraised, of which only 9 contained primary data and 11 presented original secondary analyses. Despite a recent increase in published studies, persistent methodological limitations restrict the generalizability of findings. Most studies focus on legal aspects, determinants, and characteristics of victims and perpetrators. Victims are mostly young females murdered by their male kin. Unambiguous evidence of a decline in tolerance of honor killings remains elusive.

An Exploratory Study of Honor Crimes in the United States

“…Glazer and Abu Ras 1994), community studies (Gill et al 2012), attitudes toward honor crimes (Eisner and Ghuneim 2013;Uskel et al 2012;Vandello and Cohen 2003), or honor crimes outside the United States (Doğan 2014a, b, c;Kulwicki 2002;Kulczycki and Windle 2011;Sev'er and Yurdakul 2001).…”

“…Studies on honor crimes have been difficult to conduct because of validity and reliability issues associated with data collection (Kulczycki and Windle 2011). Ethnographic studies on how honor crimes are handled have suffered from unsystematic observations and lack of representativeness (Cooney 2014).…”

“…There are three components to this definition. First, the victim engaged in, or was mistakenly thought to have engaged in, behavior that her family and community perceived as unacceptable, including but not limited to marital infidelity, premarital sex, showing autonomy, being too independent or westernized (Chesler 2010;Cooney 2014;Kulczycki and Windle 2011). Second, honor crimes derive from the belief that women belong to, or are beholden to, men.…”

“…In the current study, we used open source data that we collected to explore not only the victim-offender relationship, but also if the motivation for honor crimes went beyond the victim's sexual behaviors. This included females who demonstrated autonomy, or were perceived by offenders as too independent or westernized (Chesler 2010;Cooney 2014;Kulczycki and Windle 2011).…”

“…While there has been an increase in studies on honor crimes (Kulczycki and Windle 2011), there remains a lack of research on the characteristics of honor crimes in the United States. The current study used open sources, which are those that are available to the public (e.g.…”