By Sara Dillefeld
Three women will die today in the United States. These deaths are not the result of a tragic car accident, medical emergency, or losing a hard-fought battle with a chronic health condition, rather they are at the hands of a person they once loved. This happens to three women each day, or approximately 1,200 each year. Each death is a tragedy that might have been prevented.
When a person is killed by a current or former intimate partner, authorities call it a domestic homicide. Women are murdered by current or former husbands and boyfriends more often than by any other type of homicide offender. According to the Domestic Violence Homicide Report published by the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence, from July 2014 to June 2015, 49 people in Illinois died due to domestic homicide. Of these deaths, three were children (under the age of eight). The adult victims ranged in age from 19 to 84 years old and were predominantly women. Seven perpetrators committed suicide after killing their partner. The year prior, 84 domestic violence-related deaths were reported, including 15 children. Most of these deaths were shootings.
There is the misconception that if women in abusive relationships would just leave, the abuse would end. In fact, leaving is actually the most dangerous time. Domestic violence is about power and control. Once a victim has announced the end of the relationship, the abuser becomes outraged at losing control. While it would be impossible to predict fatalities with complete certainty, most domestic homicides are foreshadowed by a history of warning signs. In more than 70 percent of all domestic homicides, there was previous physical abuse. Other risk factors include extreme jealousy, abuse in public, use of or threat to use a weapon (especially access to a gun), sexual abuse, previous strangulation, and suicidal or homicidal threats.
One of the primary ways to decrease domestic homicide is to identify those most at risk and intervene appropriately. Jacquelyn Campbell (renowned researcher on domestic homicide) has found a significant barrier in the identification of victims. Her study of fatalities revealed that only four percent of the victims ever sought help from a domestic violence program. Concurrently, her research shows that 96 percent of the victims had contacted law enforcement, the court system, or hospital. This makes it imperative that personnel in those entities are able to accurately identify and assess for risk factors.
Since 1987, October has been designated as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. It is a time to mourn those who have lost their lives, celebrate those who have survived, and connect all of us in advocacy to end violence. The Center for Prevention of Abuse is
dedicated to improving the lives of those within our community by providing comprehensive domestic violence services to victims in need. These services include safe shelter, case management, legal/medical advocacy, counseling, and offering educational trainings to professionals and community groups to raise awareness of the dynamics of domestic violence.
The Center has a 24-hour crisis line for those trying to flee a violent or abusive situation. The number is 1-800-559-SAFE. Every life that is lost from domestic violence is a tragedy. One is simply too many.
Sara is the Director of Domestic Violence Family Centered Services at the Center for Prevention of Abuse. She has spent 12 years advocating for victims of domestic violence.
The Center for Prevention of Abuse is the only agency authorized by the State of Illinois to provide a combination of domestic violence, sexual assault, and adult protective services. Annually, more than 5,000 women, men, and children affected by violence and abuse are served by The Center. Additionally, The Center offers school-based abuse prevention programming to students pre-K through college age, reaching out to over 33,000 young people annually. Through these activities, plus community presentations and trainings, The Center lives out its mission which is to empower everyone — women, men, and children — to live free from violence and abuse.