Canberra Australian Capital Territory

not uncommon for concern to be aired from government, media, and other concerned agencies. Prevention models which stress the role of domestic violence as an antecedent and the importance of appropriate legislation and police enforcement are often suggested. Yet, there has been little research done in Australia that has focused upon marital murder or killings between sexual intimates. Studies have been limited either by the broad scope of the topic (all homicides, see Strang 1991), sample selection (for example, only prosecuted cases: see Law Reform Commission of Victoria 1991a, 1991b), or the narrow scope of the topic (for example only women who kill their husbands: see Bacon & Lansdowne 1982), or the location (one state: see Rod 1979), or a combination of the above (see Wallace 1986, Bonney 1987, Polk & Ranson 1991a, 1991b). The works just cited do give an indication that many of these killing may be preceded by histories of battering, however more empirical data is needed prior to generating prevention programs. The following paper represents the preliminary findings of a major research project conducted to provide more information about homicide between adult sexual intimates in Australia. Two data sets are being used in the year-long study: n information on the sexual intimate homicide sub-set (all offenders/victims who were married, de facto, estranged or divorced) from the National Homicide Monitoring Program (1989-1991) housed at the Australia