title: Honor crimes: review and proposed definition.
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.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Legal Medicine, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Butenfeld 34, 22529, Hamburg, Germany, s.elakkary@uke.de.
authors.forename: Sally
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Elakkary
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Franke
authors.forename: Dina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shokri
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hartwig
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsokos
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Püschel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000145:classification* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D033161:Government Regulation; D006708:Homicide / Q000145:classification* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D012922:Social Change; D012945:Social Values; D009626:Terminology as Topic