Louisiana saw a notable drop in the rate of women murdered by men in 2018, about 15 percent. Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence Director Mariah Wineski said it appears a number of legislative efforts are finally coming to fruition.
“Everything from firearm restrictions on abusers to housing protections for survivors to improvements in protection orders,” said Wineski.
54 female homicide victims were identified in the report for 2018, with 34, or 63 percent, of them being Black women.
67 percent of victims were killed with a firearm, but Wineski said a 2018 law requiring domestic abusers to transfer possession of their firearms is just now coming into play.
“We are hopeful that as that change continues to be implemented across the state that it will have an effect on the percentage of these homicides that are completed with firearms,” said Wineski.
Despite the drop, Louisiana still had the 5th highest rate in the nation. Wineski said we have a lot of work to do when it comes to identifying situations that will eventually become homicides.
“Domestic violence does not begin with a homicide,” said Wineski “In many cases, there are opportunities to intervene prior to a homicide occurring so we have got to be getting to a point where we are taking those opportunities.”
Louisiana’s rate of 2.26 victims per 100,000 women in 2018 was 77 percent higher than the national average.
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