‘Honour’ Crimes

Abstract

In the United Kingdom a number of high-profile cases related to forced marriage and ‘honour’ killing have sparked media attention to so-called ‘honour’ crimes and ‘honour-based’ violence (HBV). In response, recent scholarly research has focused on the impact of honour-based practices on the lives of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) women, particularly incidents that culminate in violence and aggression (Akpinar 2003; Welchman and Hossain 2005; Meetoo and Mirza 2007; Gill 2009; Idriss and Abbas 2011). However, this form of violence and abuse remains largely under-re ported and underestimated. It is only partially understood and therefore susceptible to prejudicial cultural stereotypes and media sensationalism (Dustin and Phillips 2008). This chapter unpacks these emerging debates around ‘honour’ crime and victimisation while acknowledging the cultural and political sensitivity associated with these issues. After an initial overview of what constitutes a ‘crime of honour’ and how we might move beyond the contested nature of the term to understand its specificities, the discussion analyses the nature and extent of ‘honour’ crimes in the United Kingdom. This is followed by a discussion of the concept of izzat, which occupies the centre of the distinct honour/shame complex that plays an important reproductive role in specific South Asian cultural groups, with a particular focus on British-Pakistani diasporic communities.