The killing of a woman by her partner is the most extreme consequence of intimate partner violence. Monitoring such violence provides insights on the impact of laws, policies and programs for gender-based violence prevention. In this research brief we compare the results  of two South African national studies that described prevalence and patterns of female homicide and intimate femicide in 1999 and 2009. The study showed a decrease of female homicides overall as well as for intimate femicides but the decrease for intimates was at a  lower rate. A significant difference in suspected rape homicide was found with more rapes perpetrated by non-intimate in 2009 compared to 1999. A significant overall reduction of gun murders was also found between the two years. Convictions of perpetrators decreased  and was most significant among non-intimate femicides.

View the complete Every eight hours: Intimate femicide in South Africa 10 years later!  policy brief