Objective: Intimate Partner Femicide (IPF) remains a global crisis, yet predictive models often fail to capture the active strategies used by perpetrators to subvert intervention. This study aims to systematically categorize and analyze the tactics of avoidance and concealment employed by IPF perpetrators to evade detection by formal and informal systems.

Method: This article utilizes a qualitative synthesis methodology, drawing on existing studies of perpetrator accounts, court records, and system reviews from a comprehensive literature base [19, 27]. Thematic analysis was employed to develop a taxonomy of evasion tactics.

Results: Three core groups of evasion tactics were identified: 1) Strategic Manipulation of the Victim and Social Network (e.g., maintaining a facade of 'normalcy' and coercive silence [82]), 2) Systemic Deception and Procedural Evasion (e.g., gaming risk assessments and weaponizing legal/custody processes [11]), and 3) Cognitive and Emotional Evasion (e.g., moral disengagement and external locus of blame [68]). A detailed analysis showed that procedural exploitation in the judiciary acts as a potent, high-risk evasion strategy.

Conclusion: The findings demonstrate that perpetrator evasion is a critical, high-risk behaviour and that current risk assessment instruments are fundamentally insufficient as they overlook these deliberate acts of concealment. The study concludes that the calculated manipulation of systems must be considered a key risk factor—a "blind spot" that, if addressed, could significantly enhance prevention. A new framework of Perpetrator Evasion Indicators (PEIs) is proposed to improve multi-agency system response.

Intimate Partner Femicide (IPF), Perpetrator Tactics, Detection Avoidance

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