Flying Under the Radar: Tactics of Intimate Partner Femicide Perpetrators to Evade Systemic Intervention

Intimate partner femicide (IPF) has gained increasing recognition and social awareness over the past three decades. Research during this period has shown that IPF often stems from abusive relationships. Despite this knowledge and the extensive research on coercive control and the growing interest in the life stories of perpetrators, there is still a gap in understanding how perpetrators evade peer and systemic interventions before the murder. Using a life history approach, this study identifies the strategies perpetrators use to avoid interventions by social systems and structures prior to femicide, expanding on Monckton Smith’s framework on the stages leading to homicide. Based on 73 biographical, open-ended interviews with incarcerated men from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, and Venezuela, the study used inductive thematic analysis and classification techniques focused on intimate relationship chronologies. Seven recurring strategies were identified: social isolation, gaslighting, vilifying perceived external threats, relying on alliances with male peers, "body terrorism," limiting outside employment, and reproductive and healthcare coercion. These findings highlight patterns of coercive control and consistent sequencing in relationships that culminate in IPF, showing how men navigated relationships and “flew under the radar” of peers and institutions that could have intervened to prevent lethal violence. Male complicity and support emerged as a significant factor in the Latin American context, indicating a community dynamic with important implications for the region’s femicide landscape. The study emphasizes missed opportunities for intervention through both informal social networks and formal institutions, making the identification of these strategies a key step in improving IPF prevention.