This month, across the nation domestic violence prevention advocates are marking Domestic Violence Awareness Month, undertaking public education efforts to help protect women, children, and families. As part of this effort, each year the Violence Policy Center releases a new edition of its annual study When Men Murder Women. Using 2006 Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Uniform Crime Reports Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR) data (the most recent available) the yearly VPC report details national and state-by-state information on female homicides involving one female murder victim and one male offender.
Nationwide, 1,836 females were murdered by males in single victim/single offender incidents in 2006. In cases where it could be determined if the victim knew her killer, 92 percent of female victims (1,572 out of 1,701) were murdered by someone they knew. Of these, 60 percent (949 out of 1,572) were wives or intimate acquaintances of their killers. More than 12 times as many females were murdered by a male they knew than were killed by male strangers. In 88 percent of all incidents where the circumstances could be determined, the homicides were not related to the commission of any other felony, such as rape or robbery.
Where weapon use could be determined, firearms were the most common weapon used by males to murder females (907 of 1,675 homicides or 54 percent). Of these, 73 percent (666 of 907) were committed with handguns.
The top-ranking states surprise most people. Number one is Nevada, with a rate of 3.27 per 100,000, more than twice the national rate of 1.29 per 100,000. Ranking right behind Nevada are four southern states: South Carolina at number two, followed by Alabama at number three, Oklahoma, ranking fourth, and Louisiana rounding out the top five. Vermont is sixth with a rate of 1.90 per 100,000, Texas is seventh, Arkansas, eighth, Arizona, ninth, and Tennessee tenth. All of the top 10 states have rates of 1.70 per 100,000 or higher.
As in past years, these findings alarmingly demonstrate how domestic violence can escalate to homicide, and how that irretrievable act is often made with the help of a gun -- a fact that has not gone unnoticed even in the most pro-gun states.
An editorial in the Nashville Tennessean, commenting on the state's ranking in the top 10, acknowledged that one factor in the state's high rate of women killed by men "may be the extreme ease of obtaining and possessing guns in this state. Of those women slain in Tennessee in 2006, 63 percent were killed with guns, higher than the national average." The paper adds that the "presence of firearms in households that have experienced domestic strife is a dangerous mix, since the attacker usually knows the house as well as the victim."
"Ultimately," the paper concludes, "Americans, and Tennesseans in particular, should have an open discussion of whether our gun laws go far enough, and are adequately enforced. Domestic violence in this country has deep roots, but need not be exacerbated by the ease of pulling a trigger."