An experimental study of public attitudes towards intimate partner homicide: evidence from Turkey

This study examines public attitudes towards a specific form of intimate partner violence (i.e., homicide) in the Turkish context, which is characterized by strong patriarchal values and widespread gender-based violence. The study raises the following questions: How do people respond to gender-based violence? To what extent, and in what ways, does the gender of the offender shape public attitudes towards intimate partner homicide? More specifically, do patriarchal values lead to favourable attitudes towards the male offender? To address these questions, the study utilizes original experimental data from an online survey experiment with a sample of university students (N = 425) and a population-based survey experiment with a nationwide sample (N = 7,240). The study revealed unexpected findings: a relatively more favourable attitude towards the female offender, which was also observed among male participants. However, further empirical analyses confirm that participants' patriarchal values and orientations do shape their attitudes towards intimate partner violence.