Violence report: Louisiana a deadly state for women
Only Alaska exceeds Louisiana in the rate of women murdered by men according to a data analysis by the Violence Policy Center.
Louisiana ranked second in 2016 in the center's annual "When Men Murder Women" report, and the state has ranked in the top 10 for the past six years.
According to the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence the report reveals the state has failed to make the progress seen in the rest of the nation with a females murdered by males homicide rate of 2.15 per 100,000 — double the national average.
In a response to the report, Beth Meeks, executive director of LCADV, said a number of complicated factors contribute to the problem statewide.
"We have a significant lack of safety resources for domestic violence survivors in Louisiana," Meeks said. "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 relies on data from 2014, the most recent year for which information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Supplementary Homicide report is available. Advocates are hopeful future years will show a decline in deaths statewide due to laws that went into effect in the latter half of 2014, including legislation restricting firearm access for domestic abusers.
"Unfortunately, these new laws were not in effect for the first seven months of 2014," Meeks said in a statement. "We know that with proper implementation these laws will have an impact on our homicide rate here in Louisiana."
In northeast Louisiana, an impact on local homicide rates has already been seen due through a coordinated community response to domestic violence involving a range of local organizations and government agencies.
For the past 20 years, The Wellspring has tracked domestic violence information for the region. In 2011, a 70 percent reduction in domestic violence homicides was realized, and the drop has remained consistent for the past four years.
For comparison, over the 19 years the "When Men Murder Women" report has been published, the number of women murdered by men has dropped 31 percent nationwide, from 1.57 percent per 100,000 in 1996 to 1.08 per 100,000 in 2014.
Other study findings
According to the study, 93 percent of women killed by men are murdered by someone they knew, and firearms, in particular handguns, were the weapons most commonly used by men to murder women in 2014.
Nationwide, for homicides in which the weapon used could be identified, 54 percent of female victims were shot and killed with a gun. Of the homicides committed with guns, 69 percent were killed with handguns.
“Women are almost always killed by someone they know, and the majority are victims of domestic homicide. Local, state and national policymakers must make preventing domestic violence a priority,” VPC Legislative Director Kristen Rand, said. “Guns in the hands of abusers can escalate domestic violence to homicide in the blink of an eye. Removing guns from a domestic violence situation is crucial.”
In Louisiana, 51 women were murdered by men in 2015. In crimes with an identified weapon, 63 percent of victims were shot and killed with guns. Of those, 45 percent were killed with handguns.
Ninety-four percent of the victims were killed by someone they knew, and 73 percent of those were killed by a husband, common-law husband, ex-husband or boyfriend. in most instances, the shooting occurred separate from the commission of any other felony crime and most involved arguments between the victim and the shooter.
Nationwide, for homicides in which the circumstances could be identified, 83 percent of the homicides were not related to the commission of another felony. Most often, females were killed by males in the course of an argument between the victim and the offender.
The "When Men Murder Women" study calculates the rate of women murdered by men by dividing the total number of females murdered by males in single victim/single offender incidents by the total female population and multiplying the result by 100,000.
10 states with the highest rate of females murdered by males in single victim/single offender incidents in 2014
- Alaska, 3.15 per 100,000
- Louisiana, 2.15 per 100,000
- Nevada, 1.98 per 100,000
- Oklahoma, 1.94 per 100,000
- South Carolina, 1.73 per 100,000
- New Mexico, 1.71 per 100,000
- South Dakota, 1.65 per 100,000
- Georgia, 1.62 per 100,000
- Tennessee, 1.58 per 100,000
- Texas, 1.44 per 100,000