Romantic partners account for more than 55% of women's deaths by homicide

I saw a news article yesterday reporting that politicians blame immigration laws for the recent murder of a young woman in Iowa. While that is a tragedy, I find it interesting that no one is paying any attention to women who are killed by romantic partners, like the recent case in Colorado where a husband was charged with the murder of his pregnant wife and his two daughters.

A recent CDC report suggests that domestic violence is a major cause of death for women. Over half of the killings of American women are related to intimate partner violence, with the vast majority of the victims dying at the hands of a current or former partner, according to the CDC. They found that 10,018 women in 18 states were killed between 2003-2014 and that, of those, 55 percent were intimate partner-violence related, meaning they occurred at the hands of a former or current partner or the partner's family or friends. In 93% of those cases, the culprit was a current or former romantic partner. Strangers perpetrated just 16% of all female homicides, fewer than acquaintances and just slightly more than parents. (The Atlantic 7/20/17)

About 3rd of the time, the couple had argued right before the homicide took place, and about 12 % of deaths were associated with jealousy. The majority of the victims were under the age of 40, and 15% were pregnant. About 54% were gun deaths. (The Atlantic, 7/20/17)

Black women were most likely to die by homicide of any kind, at 4.4 deaths per 100,000 people, followed by Native Americans , Hispanics, and finally whites and Asians. Data reports suggest that a far smaller percentage of men - around 5-7%-were killed by intimate partners. (The Atlantic, 7/20/17)

Even worse, research suggests that family violence is two to four times higher in the law-enforcement community than the general population. I can tell you first-hand that out of the abuse cases I see, more than half are wives or girlfriends of law enforcement officials. What does this say about our ability to protect women when the very people we call to protect us are going home and abusing their own wives and girlfriends?

We do not need to be researching illegal immigrant murder rate statics only, we need to be taking a closer look at the men in our own country, employed by people (often law enforcement or some other authoritative employment like correction officers, etc.) and provide support, legislation and protection for these women. I, for one, am outraged that we are not paying attention to the statics of men in our own backyard and the fatal consequences of their actions. Enough is enough.