RT Article
T1 Intimate Partner Abuse and Homicide During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Situational Action Theory Analysis
JF Journal of contemporary criminal justice
VO 40
IS 2
SP 290
OP 323
A1 Treiber, Kyle
LA English
YR 2024
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1887855599
AB During the COVID-19 pandemic, stay-at-home restrictions significantly changed people’s daily lives around the world. Opportunity and strain theories predict this would lead to an increase in intimate partner abuse (IPA), including intimate partner homicide (IPH). This paper applies an alternative theoretical framework—situational action theory (SAT)—to explain mixed findings regarding changes in IPA and unexpected findings regarding (a lack of) changes in IPH. It is argued that SAT may contribute to explaining the impact of stay-at-home restrictions on IPA and IPH in three important ways:1. by addressing the fact that motivation is necessary but not sufficient for explaining action and better specifying how motivation translates into IPA and IPH;2. by addressing the fact that people perceive different alternatives for action and better specifying why some people come to see IPA and IPH as acceptable action alternatives;3. by addressing the fact that exposure affects people differently and better specifying how stay-at-home restrictions shaped people’s activity fields and, in turn, their perceptions and action choices.
K1 activity field
K1 perception-choice process
K1 Femicide
K1 intimate partner abuse
K1 Situational Action Theory
DO 10.1177/10439862241245882