SC is #11 in the nation for women killed by men
For the first time since the
Violence Policy Center (VPC) has been keeping up with the statistics, South Carolina is no longer in the top 10 most deadly states where men kill women. For over 20 years, South Carolina has bounced around in the top 10 deadliest states, being the deadliest state in the country more than once, and as recently as 2015.
It was a surprise to many when South Carolina did not make this infamous list again, just barely missing the top 10 and coming in at #11 in the VPC's
most recent findings. Locally, we celebrate South Carolina's unexpected improvement in our ranking. Nationwide, however, we mourn the fact that the rate at which Black women are killed by men has increased from being 2x more likely to 3x times more likely to be killed by men than White women.
"This year’s report highlighted a nationwide disparity: Black women are three times as likely as White women to be killed by men, making up 14 percent of the population but 32 percent of the 2018 homicides included in the 2018 data. Black women are nine times as likely to be murdered by an acquaintance than by strangers, and intimate partner violence is the leading cause of premature death for Black women aged 15-44.
"It’s a sobering statistic, but not a surprising one, said Jada Charley, president of the SAFE Homes Rape Crisis Coalition.
“The fear in the African American community is that any type of additional criminal laws or criminalization disproportionately affect us,” Charley said. “I think African American victims all over the nation have fears around calling law enforcement. They fear for their own safety, they have the fear of not being believed, fear of what happens involving the criminal justice system, fear that they or their partner could be murdered by law enforcement.”
Excerpt and image above are from the Post & Courier's, "In historic first, SC no longer top 10 state for women killed by men."
