Domestic Violence Homicide
November 5, 2004
Three minutes thought would suffice to find this out; but thought is irksome and three minutes is a long time. - A. E. Housemen
In July 2003 a domestic violence advocate in the Tacoma, Washington area stated that she was going to hold a news conference on July 14 th to tell the people in the community what they should do about domestic violence. The Federal government has a Violence Against Women Act.
The domestic violence advocate must believe that she is an “expert” on the issue. The federal government must think that women suffer more violence than men. The fact is that regardless of percentage differences do not all victims, regardless of gender, deserve equal empathy. Is not the equality of the genders supposed to be at heart and core of the feminist movement?
The advocate is quoted in the Tribnet.com on July 14, 2003 declaring, “It seems like someone’s declared open season [concerning homicides] of women.” Perhaps that might be true if you think domestic violence is violence against women and all you do is count female victims.
The problem is that it appears that this advocate, similar to many other fundamental feminist domestic violence advocates and many of our public policy makers, can only see, care about or empathize with female victims. However, the facts clearly document otherwise.
Our homes and neighborhoods are dangerous places for both females and males. Anyone remotely familiar with the criminal justice system understands that the vast majority of homicides, regardless of age or gender, are not committed by strangers.
Both offenders and victims of homicides can be intimate/family members. The FBI Supplemental Homicide Report (SHR) defines intimate/family members as relatives, step-relatives, in-laws, and common law or ex-spouses. Neither the Federal government nor the states define domestic violence as violence only or primarily against women.
In fact the SHR definition of intimate/family members is very similar to how the states and the Federal government does define domestic violence. In 1980 the SHR documents that 2,094 males and 1,609 females were murdered by a family/intimate. In 1990, it was 1,600 males and 1,427 females and in 2,000, it is 928 males and 1,133 females. The yearly decrease totals replicate the yearly decrease in total number of homicides in general
The Bureau of Justice Statistics, Homicide Trends in the United States, documents that females account for 24% of the total number of all homicides victims. Of that 24%, approximately 30% of females are murdered by a husband or intimate partner Thus, female intimate partners who are murdered by their spouse or intimate partner account for approximately 7% of the total number of homicides.
The is no doubt that the homicides of intimate partner females are tragedies, however, they do not represent an epidemic that is sweeping the nation nor do they represent “an open season on women”.
In the National Institute of Justice study, Homicide in Eight U.S. Cities: Trends, Context, and Policy Implications the researchers report that female homicide victimization occurred at such low rates relative to male homicide victimization that the changes in female victimization accounted for little of the overall fluctuation of the homicide trends.
The majority, but certainly not all, of the domestic violence homicides are committed by people who have histories of criminal behavior, long histories of violent and aberrant behavior inside and out side the family, were physically and/or sexually abused as children and/or suffer from alcohol or substance abuse.
Those who do not have histories of criminal behavior and commit a smaller number of domestic violence homicides also do not represent the population general. They often appear to be people who display extreme narcissistic behavior, have alcohol or drug problems, display pathological jealousy, become extremely depressed at the prospect of losing their partner and blame their intimate partners for the loss of their economic standing or professional and personal esteem.
Tragically one out of every four domestic violence homicides also involves a suicide.
On the last day of each year the Boston Globe lists the names of people who died as a result of domestic violence. In 2003 there were 13 incidents in Massachusetts that resulted in domestic violence homicides and five involved homicide/suicides. Inexplicably each year the Globe excludes domestic violence suicides as live lost as the result of domestic violence. The family members of those who murder and then take their own lives might respectfully disagree.
The editors of the Globe do acknowledge that the homicide/suicides involve many people who feel helpless and hopeless and are profoundly troubled. However, the editors and the domestic violence advocates who provide the Globe with the names of those who die as a result of domestic violence display a callous lack of empathy by not listing them as victims of domestic violence. Despite the fact that they took the lives of others along with their own, there should be no doubt that those suicides are the direct results of domestic violence.
The SRC documents that between 1980 and 2000, 28,586 females were the victims of a family/intimate homicide. During that same period there were 31,509 male victims. There has been a yearly decrease in intimate/family homicides during this period for both males and females that is reflective of the decrease in the total number of homicides nationwide.
All family/intimate, acquaintance or stranger homicides, regardless of gender, are tragedies. Advocates and the Federal government do themselves no justice by picking and choosing which victims they deem more important than others.
