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Researcher documents risk factors for domestic violence fatalities |
| By
Kathleen M. Amerkhanian |
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Mar 3, 2008 |
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The UT College of Law and the Lucas County Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team recently released a study that reveals trends and risk factors for domestic violence fatalities at a time when the community continues to see an increase in deaths due to domestic violence.
Deaths from domestic violence tripled in northwest Ohio from 2003 to 2006, and domestic violence was the No. 1 cause of local murders in 2007.
The study, led by Law Clinical Professor Gabrielle Davis and funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, examined all domestic violence-related deaths in Lucas County between 2003 and 2006. The study aimed to identify trends, pinpoint characteristics of people most at risk, and make recommendations to local officials and policymakers on how to stem the tide of these preventable deaths.
“This study points to a need for a comprehensive, community-wide domestic violence prevention plan that focuses on stopping violence before it starts,” said Davis, who served as principal investigator in the yearlong study.
Using public records and media sources, researchers compiled information on 75 domestic violence-related deaths. Several patterns emerged. For instance, in many cases, the perpetrators’ criminal histories did not include a pattern of domestic violence against their victims. Rather, their criminal histories tended to reflect a pattern of domestic violence committed against a former spouse or partner.
Age and gender factors also were significant, according to the study. Male victims tended to be much younger than female homicide victims. Deaths of female victims occurred across the entire life span.
Furthermore, while male victims represented 74 percent of all homicides over the study period, including non-domestic violence-related murders, only about 10 percent of those homicides were related to domestic violence. Conversely, domestic violence was attributed to up to 90 percent of the female homicide victims. This indicates that men are significantly more vulnerable to murder overall, but are still far less likely to be killed in the context of domestic violence, according to the report.
For the full text of the report’s executive summary, which outlines the study’s main findings, go to http://www.utlaw.edu/students/faculty/GDavis/DVReport.pdf.
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