DOMESTIC VIOLENCE RELATED HOMICIDES

STATISTICS

• 31% (16 out of 51 cases) of women killed in domestic violence-related deaths from 1993-1997 in California’s Santa Clara County were Asian1 , although Asians comprised only 17.5% of the county’s population.
• 13% of women and children killed in domestic violence-related homicides in Massachusetts in 1991 were Asian, although Asians represented only 2.4% of the population in the state 2.
• 6% of women killed by their abusers in Massachusetts in 1998 were Asian, a four-year low. During the same year requests for services to the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence increased by 36% 3.
• 63 separate reports of murder and attempted murder of South Asian women in the U.S. and Canada between 1981-2000 were compiled from ethnic and local newspapers (not an exhaustive compilation). Although the majority of victims were women, the women’s children and relatives were also killed in these domestic-violence related homicides, some of which were murder-suicides 4.
• 7 domestic violence related homicides were reported in 2000 in Hawaii 5. Accordingn to the Domestic Violence Clearinghouse and Legal Hotline, 5 of the 7 women killed were of Filipina descent 6 ; a disproportionately high rate given that Filipinos represent only 12.3% of the total population of Hawaii 7.

1Santa Clara County Death Review Sub-Committee of the Domestic Violence Council, Death Review Committee Final Report. San Jose: Author; 1997.
2Tong BQM. A haven without barriers: Task force is seeking a refuge for battered Asian women. Boston Globe. November 9, 1992; 17.
3 Malone H. Asian task force encouraged by drop in domestic abuse deaths, group will hold its sixth annual fund-raiser today. Boston Globe. Sept. 25, 1999: B3.
4 Dasgupta SD. Data presented at the Asian & Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence, National Summit 2002, San Francisco.
5 Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Domestic Violence Deaths in Hawaii, 2000. Honolulu, HI: Author; 2001.
6 Domestic Violence Clearinghouse and Legal Hotline, Honolulu, HI. Email communication, April 2002.
7 The Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism. The State of Hawaii Data Book 2000. Honolulu, HI: Author; 2000. http://www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/db00/index.html

Back to Domestic Violence Related Homicides