Alaska Ranks #1 in Rate of Women Murdered by Men According to VPC Study Released Each Year for Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October

WASHINGTON, DC—The Violence Policy Center (VPC) today released When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of 2004 Homicide Data. This annual report details national and state-by-state information on female homicides involving one female murder victim and one male offender. The VPC releases the study each year to coincide with Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October. In 2004, according to the most recent data available from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's unpublished Supplementary Homicide Report, firearms were the most common weapon used by males to murder females (811 of 1,663 homicides or 49 percent). Of these, 72 percent (582 of 811) were committed with handguns. In cases where the victims knew their offenders, 62 percent of female homicide victims (966 of 1,563) were wives or intimate acquaintances of their killers. Alaska ranks first in the nation in the rate of women killed by men. Ranked behind Alaska are: New Mexico, Wyoming, Louisiana, Nevada, South Carolina, Georgia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Tennessee (see chart below). Nationally, the rate of women killed by men in single victim/single offender instances was 1.29 per 100,000.

VPC Legislative Director Kristen Rand states, "These numbers should serve as a wake-up call to the states with the highest rates of female homicide that more needs to be done to protect women."

Ranking	State	Number of Homicides	Homicide Rate per 100,000
1	Alaska	9	2.83
2 (tie)	New Mexico	23	2.39
2 (tie)	Wyoming	6	2.39
4	Louisiana	54	2.32
5	Nevada	25	2.21
6	South Carolina	46	2.13
7 (tie)	Georgia	90	2.02
7 (tie)	Oklahoma	36	2.02
9	Kentucky	39	1.85
10	Tennessee	54	1.78

 

The Violence Policy Center is a national non-profit educational foundation that conducts research on violence in America and works to develop violence-reduction policies and proposals. The Center examines the role of firearms in America, conducts research on firearms violence, and explores new ways to decrease firearm-related death and injury.