Louisiana ranked second worst for rate of women murdered by men

Washington, D.C. — Louisiana ranked second in the nation in the rate of women murdered by men, with a rate of 2.15 per 100,000, according to a new Violence Policy Center study.

This is the sixth year in a row that Louisiana has ranked in the top 10 states for women murdered by men.

The study, released ahead of Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October, uses 2014 data, the most recent year that information is available. The study covers homicides involving one female murder victim and one male offender, and uses data from the FBI's Supplementary Homicide Report.

In Louisiana, 51 women were murdered by men in 2014 — 29 of the victims were black, 21 were white and one was Asian or Pacific Islander. The average age of the victims was 34.

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Ninety-four percent of the victims in Louisiana were murdered by someone they knew. Of the victims who knew their offender, 73 percent were wives, common-law wives, ex-wives, or girlfriends of the offenders.

The study found that nationwide, 93 percent of women killed by men were murdered by someone they knew and that the most common weapon used was a gun. Sixty-three percent of the women killed in Louisiana in 2014 were killed by a gun.

“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 in a press release. “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.”

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Louisiana ranks behind only Alaska, which has a murder rate of 3.15 per 100,000. Other states on the list include Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, New Mexico, South Dakota, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas.

For each of the top 10 states, the study offers a detailed summary including: the number of victims by age group and race; the most common weapons used; the victim to offender relationships; and the circumstances of the homicides.

The full report can be views at www.vpc.org/studies/wmmw2016.pdf.