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Honor crimes: review and proposed definition

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Abstract

There is every reason to believe that honor based violence is one of the forms of domestic violence that is being practiced against females all over the world. This type of violence includes a wide range of crimes, the severest of which is honor killing. Many studies have adopted different definitions for the so-called honor killing. In this paper some of these definitions are discussed and a working definition is proposed. The scope of the problem worldwide is presented. Honor killing goes beyond ethnicity, class, and religion. It is a very old phenomenon that was practiced in ancient Rome, guided by penal codes. Some of the older as well as new penal codes are discussed concerning this matter from different regions of the world. The different efforts of international governmental and nongovernmental organizations in combating this problem are also presented.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Legal Medicine, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Butenfeld 34, 22529, Hamburg, Germany

    Sally Elakkary, Barbara Franke & Klaus Püschel

  2. Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Alexandria, Champollion Str, El-khartoum Square, Azarita Medical Campus, Alexandria, Egypt

    Sally Elakkary

  3. Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt

    Dina Shokri

  4. Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Charité—University Medicine Berlin, Turmstr. 21, Building N, 10559, Berlin, Germany

    Sven Hartwig & Michael Tsokos

Authors
  1. Sally Elakkary
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  2. Barbara Franke
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  4. Sven Hartwig
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  6. Klaus Püschel
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Correspondence to Sally Elakkary.

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Elakkary, S., Franke, B., Shokri, D. et al. Honor crimes: review and proposed definition. Forensic Sci Med Pathol 10, 76–82 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-013-9455-1

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