Every year for Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October, the Violence Policy Center (VPC) issues a report titled When Men Murder Women. This VPC report uses the most recent data that is available from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and it provides details on national and state information on female homicides involving one female murder victim and one male offender. The study features a ranking of the states according to their per capita rate of women killed by men.
Here is a listing of those states according to the statistics compiled in 2008. Nevada was at the top of the list with a rate of 2.96 per 100,000; this is the highest rate of women murdered by men. Behind Nevada came Vermont with a rate of 2.54 per 100,000. Alabama came in third place with a rate of 2.07 per 100,000. North Carolina followed with a rate of 2.05 per 100.000. Tennessee came in fifth place with a rate of 1.97 per 100,000. That state was followed by Texas with a rate of 1.72 pr 100,000. Arkansas tied with Missouri because both had a rate of 1.71 per 100,000. South Carolina was in ninth place with a rate of 1.69 per 100,000. Tenth place went to Georgia with a rate of 1.69 per 100,000.
On a national level, in 2008, there were 1,817 women murdered by men in single “victim/single offender incidents” that were submitted to the FBI.
For murders in which the victims and offenders could be identified, 92 percent of the women were murdered by someone they knew.
Twelve times as many women were murdered by a man they knew than were killed by male strangers.
According to a federal study on homicide involving intimate partners women were more likely to be killed by a firearm than all other means combined.
A conclusion to be drawn from When Men Murder Women is that the greatest threat to women is someone they know, be it a husband or another man with whom they have an intimate relationship, and who is in the possession of a gun.
This information was gathered from an article written by Josh Sugarmann, who is executive director of the Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C.