September, 25 2008, 10:12am EDT
Black Women Murdered by Men are Most Often Killed with a Gun, Almost Always by Someone They Know, According to New VPC Study Rel
WASHINGTON
Black
women murdered by men are most often killed with a gun, almost always
by someone they know, according to new the Violence Policy Center (VPC)
report When Men Murder
Women: An Analysis of 2006 Homicide Data. The annual VPC report
details national and state-by-state information on female homicides involving
one female murder victim and one male offender. The study uses the most
recent data available from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's unpublished
Supplementary Homicide Report and is released each year to coincide with
Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October. According to the study:
- In 2006, 551 black
females were murdered by males in single victim/single offender homicides.
Black women were murdered at a rate nearly three times higher than white
women: 2.70 per 100,000 versus 1.00 per 100,000. Twelve percent of black
female victims were less than 18 years old. - Firearms--especially
handguns--were the most common weapon used by males to murder black
females in 2006. For the 515 homicides where the murder weapon could
be identified, 59 percent of black female victims (305 victims) were
shot and killed with guns. Of these, 77 percent (236 of 305) were killed
with a handgun. - Where the relationship
could be determined, 90 percent of black females killed by males in
single victim/single offender incidents knew their killers (428 of 475).
Nine times as many black females were murdered by a male they knew (428
victims) than were killed by male strangers (47 victims) in single victim/single
offender incidents in 2006. - The number of black
females shot and killed by their husband or intimate acquaintance (132
victims) was nearly three times as high as the total number murdered
by male strangers using all weapons combined (47 victims) in single
victim/single offender incidents in 2006. - The overwhelming
majority of homicides of black females by male offenders in single victim/single
offender incidents in 2006 were not related to any other felony crime.
Most often, black females were killed by males in the course of an argument--most
commonly with a firearm. In 2006, for the 412 homicides in which the
circumstances between the black female victim and the male killer could
be identified, 89 percent (365 out of 412) were not related to the commission
of any other felony.
VPC Legislative Director
Kristen Rand states, "These findings alarmingly demonstrate how domestic
violence can escalate to homicide. More resources need to be made available
to protect women and prevent such tragedies."
The study also ranks
each state by its rate of total female homicide for females of all races
involving one female murder victim and one male offender. For the second
year in a row, Nevada, with a rate of 3.27 per 100,000, ranked first in
the nation in the rate of women killed by men. Ranked behind Nevada were:
South Carolina at 2 with a rate of 2.84 per 100,000; Alabama at 3 with
a rate of 2.20 per 100,000; Oklahoma at 4 with a rate of 2.10 per 100,000;
Louisiana at 5 with a rate of 1.97 per 100,000; Vermont at 6 with a rate
of 1.90 per 100,000; Texas at 7 with a rate of 1.82 per 100,000; Arkansas
at 8 with a rate of 1.74 per 100,000; Arizona at 9 with a rate of 1.72
per 100,000; and, Tennessee at 10 with a rate of 1.70 per 100,000. Nationally,
the rate of women killed by men in single victim/single offender instances
was 1.29 per 100,000.
The Violence Policy Center (VPC) works to stop gun death and injury through research, education, advocacy, and collaboration. Founded in 1988 by Executive Director Josh Sugarmann, a native of Newtown, Connecticut, the VPC informs the public about the impact of gun violence on their daily lives, exposes the profit-driven marketing and lobbying activities of the firearms industry and gun lobby, offers unique technical expertise to policymakers, organizations, and advocates on the federal, state, and local levels, and works for policy changes that save lives. The VPC has a long and proven record of policy successes on the federal, state, and local levels, leading the National Rifle Association to acknowledge us as "the most effective ... anti-gun rabble-rouser in Washington."
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Lindsey Graham: What do we do after we were attacked in Pearl Harbor? We dropped nuclear weapons on Japanese cities pic.twitter.com/kh7RU4flDw
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