Criminology professor awarded 2024 SSHRC Insight Grant to study intimate partner homicide

Huge congratulations to professor Alexandra Lysova on being awarded a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Grant to study intimate partner homicide.

Her research project titled “Differentiation Among Types of Intimate Partner Homicide and Implications for Interventions” aims to explore which type of violence within an intimate partner relationship is more likely to lead to domestic homicide, so it can be better predicted and screened.

"Despite a decline in intimate partner violence in Canada over the last 15 years, domestic homicides have not decreased substantially," says Lysova. “This suggests there may be factors we're overlooking in preventing those homicides from occurring in the first place.”

According to Lysova, current scholarship focuses on the personality of male offenders rather than examining domestic homicide as a couple-based phenomenon.

“It's mainly considered a personality issue rather than a couple issue. In our study, we aim to draw more attention to the couple dynamic and what precedes such incidents,” says Lysova. We hope to develop better screening mechanisms and risk assessments that aid in predicting dangerous couple dynamics that are more likely to escalate to domestic homicide.”

The study will also focus on the barriers to help-seeking, particularly for male victims. Lysova notes that it is much more difficult for men to find help, due to bias, stereotypes, and lack of services. "Many men who needed help due to depression, violence, or past unresolved trauma don’t get help and carry it into the relationship, becoming either perpetrators or sometimes victims," says Lysova. "If we look more at men who also experienced violence or trauma which is unresolved, and cannot find help because it is not available to them, we can also reduce potentially domestic homicide."

With more than 20 years of experience studying intimate partner violence, Lysova's project proposes a new way of looking at domestic violence as a phenomenon and has the potential to contribute significantly to the prevention of domestic homicide.