Lethal proximity: Victim–Offender Relationships and Killing Methods in Femicides in Türkiye

Victim–offender relationships and killing methods are central to homicide research, yet they are often examined separately. This study investigates their association in femicide and develops relational proximity as a framework for understanding how social ties shape practical access, gendered authority, and opportunities for lethal violence. A retrospective, incident-level quantitative content analysis examined 5,461 killings recorded as femicides by the civil society archive Anıt Sayaç in Türkiye between 2008 and 2025. Each case was corroborated through at least two publicly accessible news reports, deduplicated, and coded using standardized criteria. Frequencies, cross-tabulations, chi-square tests, Cramer’s V, and adjusted standardized residuals were used. Current and former intimate partners accounted for 54.1% of cases, intrafamilial perpetrators for 12.8%, and firearms for 46.8%. Victim–offender relationship and killing method were significantly associated, χ²(30, N = 4,468) = 114.55, p < .001, although the effect size was small (Cramer’s V = .072). Firearm killings occurred more often than expected in former-partner cases, whereas sharp-instrument killings were overrepresented in current-partner cases. The findings are interpreted through relational proximity, which treats relationship categories as positions from which different configurations of access, knowledge, authority, and continued contact may arise. Femicide prevention and institutional risk assessment should therefore consider post-separation contact, stalking, family authority, access to victims’ routines and spaces, and firearm availability alongside relationship status.