America needs a more honest conversation about an often overlooked group.
A 62-year-old Massachusetts woman is killed when her husband shoots her after an argument. A 76-year-old Florida woman recovering from surgery is shot by her husband as part of his homicide-suicide plan. Police in Arkansas arrive at a domestic disturbance call to find a 56-year-old woman shot and killed by her live-in boyfriend. In Pennsylvania, a 60-year-old woman is shot by her estranged husband, who then dies by suicide.
Adult women are at the greatest risk of being killed by a current or former intimate partner as compared to any other perpetrator. Older women are no exception, and many of these cases involve firearms, as illustrated by recent cases from the Gun Violence Archive.
For over three decades, researchers have sought to understand and prevent intimate partner homicide. But this work almost exclusively focuses on women in their 20s and 30s, with women over 50 being largely ignored. The emphasis on younger women is partly due to their numbers. While women in general are at a high risk of being killed by an intimate partner, younger women are most at risk. In 2023, the intimate partner homicide rate for women over 50 was 60% lower than their 18- to 49-year-old counterparts, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This pattern is consistent with younger women having higher overall homicide rates than older women.
But prevalence alone doesn’t explain the differential attention. Institutional ageism also contributes to marginalizing older women and their experiences. Research and policy priorities reflect these societal biases and have created gaps in what is known about the risks that make older women vulnerable to intimate partner homicide and prevention programs that might save their lives.
Older women may be killed by their partners in smaller numbers than younger women, but the numbers are high enough to be deeply concerning. In 2023, intimate partners killed over 340 older women in the United States, which represents almost a third of all homicides of women over 50, according to the CDC. Nearly three-quarters of these homicides involved a handgun or other firearm. This is the same weapon pattern seen in younger women killed by their partners.
Demographic shifts suggest the number of older women killed by their partners is likely to increase in the future. Women over 50 represent the fastest-growing demographic in the United States. They also are increasingly interested in maintaining active lifestyles that include dating and pursuing intimate relationships, which could affect their risk.
Age-related differences in intimate partner homicide
Ignoring age differences creates policy that fails to prevent violent deaths of older women. In fact, the contours of intimate partner homicide appear to vary depending on the victim’s age. Intimate partner homicide-suicide becomes more common as women age. Conversely, a history of intimate partner violence is more frequently seen in younger women killed by a partner. While relationship stresses contribute to intimate partner homicides for women of all ages, the sources of this stress vary by age.
Older women have a greater risk of being killed as part of a homicide-suicide as compared to younger women. Even across age groups of older women, the proportion of intimate partner homicide-suicides increases with age. Only one-third of intimate partner homicides for women in their 50s involve a suicide as compared to three-quarters of women over 80, according to a recent study. The underlying reasons for these homicide-suicides also differ by age. More older women are killed by a partner who has a desire to die by suicide as compared to younger women. In many of these cases, the partner’s suicide appears to be prompted by their own physical or mental health issue, with the reason for the homicide being unclear. For younger women, it is typically the reverse. The partner is primarily motivated by the homicide, which often arises from a history of abuse, and the suicide occurs for secondary reasons such as to avoid going to prison. The weapon used also differs by age. Older women are almost always killed by a firearm in these homicide-suicides. This statistic is consistent with the frequent use of firearms by older men who die by suicide.
The connection with prior intimate partner violence also varies by age. Younger women are at greatest risk for being killed by an intimate partner if there is a history of intimate partner violence in the relationship. For older women, this pattern of prior abuse leading to fatal violence is not clearly established. One challenge to understanding this link is that older women are more likely to experience nonphysical forms of intimate partner violence such as coercive control and psychological abuse. Nonphysical intimate partner violence is underreported by victims of all ages, as it is often not interpreted as abuse. With older women victims, this pattern is compounded by their tendency to view relationship problems as a private matter. For older women, their intimate partner violence often goes unreported to officials like police or even friends and family members. This hidden intimate partner violence makes it difficult to see links with fatal violence for older women.
Stresses in a relationship are a common intimate partner homicide risk for both younger and older women, even if the sources differ depending on age. For younger women, pregnancy and relationship separation are well-established dangers. For older women, studies suggest that stress arising from retirement, long-term illnesses and caregiving appear as homicide risks.
Avenues for future prevention work
Current prevention efforts are primarily based on risks faced by younger women. Two examples are risk assessments and extreme risk prevention orders. It is unclear whether these programs could be effectively adapted to meet the different dangers from intimate partners that older women face.
Risk or danger assessments, often prompted by incidents of intimate partner violence, are a common tool used by professionals such as police and domestic violence advocates. These tools identify women at high risk for serious and potentially lethal domestic violence in order to direct resources and safety planning. Accessing a risk assessment and services typically requires a formal report. Older women would be unlikely to receive these assessments as they typically do not call the police or seek help in response to intimate partner violence. Alternatives to formal reporting are needed to ensure assessments reach older women at risk.
Extreme risk protection orders, sometimes called ERPOs or “red flag” laws, provide an opportunity to temporarily remove firearms from an individual based on specific dangers such as threats of violence to themselves or others. As currently written, ERPOs are of limited assistance to help older women remove firearms from their homes because older women are less likely to experience physical violence than younger women and, when it occurs, are less likely to report it to police. Older women are also unlikely to know about a partner’s plans for self-harm, as research suggests older men rarely discuss their intentions.
Current options to consider
Creating prevention strategies that recognize the particular vulnerabilities of older women will take time. Interim steps could be taken to reduce older women’s risks for intimate partner homicide posed by firearms in the home and suicidal intentions of older men.
First, the substantial number of older women who are shot and killed by their partners suggests the need to reduce access to firearms in their homes, especially homes with older men who may be considering suicide. ERPOs are only one way to remove firearms from a home. Researchers have developed alternatives that do not require court orders. Current successful programs work collaboratively with older adults, especially older men, to remove firearms from the household.
Addressing the suicide risk for older men — which can go hand-in-hand with homicide as women and men age — also presents an interim option for preventing intimate partner homicide. This focus could involve outreach to identify older men at risk for depression and other health precursors to suicide, especially cases that might lead to intimate partner homicide-suicide.
For too long, the invisibility of older women resulted in a lack of attention to their risks for intimate partner homicide. Challenges to institutional ageism and overall demographic shifts are changing this perspective. While preliminary fixes can help to address risks created by firearm access and suicidal motivation, long-term solutions require an investment in effective prevention programs tailored to older women.
