Crime of passion

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Crime of passion (disambiguation).

This article does not cite any references or sources. (December 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Triangular love scene as seen by painter Ingres in this scene of Paolo and Francesca da Rimini in The Divine Comedy (Dante Alighieri). Jealousy is a strong feeling involved in such a crime profile.

A crime of passion, in popular usage, refers to a crime in which the perpetrator commits a crime, especially assault or murder, against a spouse or other loved one because of sudden strong impulse such as a jealous rage or heartbreak rather than as a premeditated crime. A typical crime of passion, for example, might involve a husband who discovers his wife has made him a cuckold and proceeds to brutally batter or even kill his wife or the man with whom she was involved. It is important to note that women are also capable of such violent behaviour e.g. Ruth Ellis.

In some countries, notably France, crime passionnel (or crime of passion) was a valid defense during murder cases; during the 19th century, some cases could be a custodial sentence for two years for the murderer, while the spouse was dead; this ended in France as the Napoleonic code was updated in the 1970s so that a specific father's authority upon his whole family was over.