Nevada 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 2005 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 In 2005, according to the most recent data available from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's unpublished Supplementary Homicide Report, 1,858 females were murdered by males in single victim/single offender incidents. Where weapon use could be determined, firearms were the most common weapon used by males to murder females (887 of 1,713 homicides or 52 percent). Of these, 72 percent (637 of 887) were committed with handguns. In cases where it could be determined if the victim knew her offender, 62 percent of female homicide victims (976 of 1,574) were wives or intimate acquaintances of their killers. Nevada ranks first in the nation in the rate of women killed by men. Ranked behind Nevada are: Alaska, Louisiana, New Mexico, Mississippi, Arkansas, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, and Oklahoma (see chart below). Nationally, the rate of women killed by men in single victim/single offender instances was 1.32 per 100,000.

VPC Legislative Director Kristen Rand states, "These stark numbers should not only make people stop and remember the victims, but also raise awareness of the urgent need for intervention and prevention."

Ranking	State	Number of Homicides	Homicide Rate per 100,000
1	Nevada	30	2.53
2	Alaska	8	2.49
3	Louisiana	50	2.16
4	New Mexico	21	2.15
5	Mississippi	30	2.00
6	Arkansas	28	1.98
7	South Carolina	43	1.97
8	Alabama	44	1.88
9	Tennessee	57	1.87
10	Oklahoma	33	1.84

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.