THE INTIMATE PARTNER HOMICIDE AND GENDER VICTIMIZATION GAP IN ALBANIA

This paper aims at studying the nature and the causes of the intimate partner homicides in Albania. Through this study we will try to shed light on the gender victimization gap in the Albanian society, especially between intimate partners in a culture where honor is a strong cultural syndrome, where traditional norms are strong and where gender gap victimization is quite high. During the last decades there have been many attempts by criminologists, sociologists and social psychologists (Steffensmeier and Allan, 1996; Baker, Gregware & Cassidy, 1999; Pridemore & Freilich, 2005; Heimer & Kruttschnitt, 2006) who have tried to explain gender and crime, the victimization of women, and the homicide between intimate partners (Serran & Firestone, 2004). By referring to the traditional Albanian society, we will try to explain the relationships between gender victimization, murder within the family, homicide in sexual intimate partners and the role of old canon norms in preserving honor of the men. A theoretical qualitative approach will be employed in order to have a panoramic view of the problem. Information from the media, police departments, and courts will be used in the paper, in order to have a full ground of the causes and reasons for gender victimization in Albania. Forty interviews were made with inmates who have killed their husband or wife, in most cases they have killed their intimate sexual partner. The results of the interviews will be included for analyses in this paper. We will try to explain how the gender gap in homicide is influenced by a culture of honor or code of honor. By referring to traditional Albanian society, we will try to explain the relationships between gender victimization, murder within the family, and the role of old canon norms in preserving the honor of the men.