For Immediate Release – September 16, 2015

Baton Rouge, LA – The Washington D.C. based Violence Policy Center has issued its yearly report on female murder victims and the news is not good for Louisiana. The report reviews female victims killed by male offenders in single victim/single offender incidents and ranks all states from highest rates to lowest. The 2015 report titled, When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of Homicide Data was released yesterday, and once again Louisiana ranks 4^th in the nation.

The report does not count multiple death incidents or incidents where the perpetrator and victim are the same gender.

The report reveals that nationwide more than 1,600 women were murdered by men in 2013 and the most common weapon used was a gun. 94 % of women killed by men were murdered by someone they knew. Of the victims who knew their offenders, 62 % were wives or other intimate acquaintances of their killers.

The study also found that black women are disproportionately impacted by fatal domestic violence. In 2013, black females were murdered by men at a rate of 2.36 per 100,000, two and a half times higher than the rate of white women murdered by men – 0.95 per 100,000.

The Violence Policy Center has published When Men Murder Women annually for 18 years. During that period, nationwide the rate of women murdered by men in single victim/single offender incidents has dropped 31 percent — from 1.57 per 100,000 in 1996 to 1.09 per 100,000 in 2013.

However, a review of the report reveals that Louisiana has failed to make the progress seen in the rest of the nation. The rate in Louisiana remains 1.99 per 100,000, 83% higher than the national average and 27% higher than the national average was 18 years ago when the reporting began.

The report details Louisiana numbers and shows that 16% of the victims were under 18 years of age and more than half were African American women. In the cases that represent domestic violence homicides, 58% were committed with firearms. The full report can be seen at www.vpc.org.

Despite the grim report, advocates remain optimistic that changes over the last few years will improve these statistics in the long run. “We have made a lot of great policy changes but it takes many years for those policy changes to get fully implemented on the ground in local communities.” said Beth Meeks, Executive Director of the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Meeks says there are a number of complicated factors that contribute to the problem in Louisiana, including a lack of services for victims. “We have a significant lack of resources that makes it difficult for victims to access safety services. We have large areas with little or no advocacy services and too few shelter beds. Programs are doing the best they can but without additional funding there just aren’t enough services for persons seeking immediate safety.”

The report is released to coincide with Domestic Violence Awareness Month which is held throughout the nation in October. Domestic Violence Programs throughout the state are commemorating this month with a wide variety of activities including Take Back the Night marches, candlelight vigils and luncheons.  For additional information on domestic violence, or for a list of Domestic Violence Awareness Month activities in your area visit www.lcadv.org.

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The Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence (LCADV) is a state wide network of battered women’s programs, other organizations and individuals who share the goal of ending violence against women and children in Louisiana.  LCADV empowers its members through advocacy, education, resource development and technical assistance.