Black Women Murdered by Men are Most Often Killed with a Gun, Almost Always by Someone They Know, According to New VPC Study Rel

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recent data available from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's unpublished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.