Georgia has sixth-highest rate of women killed by men, study says

By David Ibata

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia has the sixth-highest homicide rate in the nation for women killed by men, according to a study released this week of violence against women.

This state’s rate of 1.80 per 100,000 came out in the report, “When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of 2009 Homicide Data,” by the Washington-based Violence Policy Center. The study is available as a download.

The national homicide rate of women killed by men in single-victim, single-offender instances was 1.25 per 100,000, the study said. There were 1,818 such female victims during 2009.

“Violence against women too often escalates to homicide. Prevention of such violence deserves serious and sustained attention from law enforcement officials and policymakers alike,” Kristen Rand, the center’s legislative director, said in a prepared statement.

The center said its study used the most recent data available from the FBI’s unpublished Supplementary Homicide Report. It is released each year as part of Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October.

The 10 states with the highest rates of women murdered by men were in descending order Nevada, Alabama, Louisiana, Arizona, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, South Dakota, Hawaii and Missouri, according to the study.

Where weapons use could be determined, firearms were used in slightly more than half the homicides, and more than two-thirds of those firearms were handguns, the study said.

Ninety-three percent of the victims were killed by someone they knew, and 63 percent were wives or intimate acquaintances, the study said.