Domestic Violence and Homicide

DID YOU KNOW...that for 2005, Florida had 120,386 reported incidents of domestic violence, and that domestic violence accounted for 176 (20%) of the state's 881 murders? The spouse or live in partner was the victim in 54% of cases, and children were the victims in 7% of cases. Source: Florida Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team Annual Report, 2006.

When women and children are victims of homicide the perpetrator is frequently known to them, and equally frequent that perp is a family member or close associate, i.e: spouse, boyfriend, "ex" or some variation of that.

The following informaton is from a report submitted by the Florida Deptartment of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Domestic Violence Fatality Review Teams. To veteran LEO's most of this information is unfortunately not a revelation. Some of the statistics however are very sobering.

The following data is from 19 cases provided to the FDLE’s DVDRC by the participating
Domestic Violence Fatality Review Teams. The cases were not selected based on any specific
date, time frame or circumstance. The data is from 10 teams covering only 15 counties,
and the number of reviews completed by each team varies. Therefore, the reader is
cautioned about drawing conclusions from this data.

Complainant Information

Regarding the 19 domestic violence fatality reports reviewed for the 2006 reporting period,
twenty-six percent of the calls were received from a family member of the perpetrator of the
fatality and 23% of the calls were received from a family member of the decedent. Fifteen
percent of the calls were received from a neighbor. A maintenance man, a witness at a hotel, a
deputy sheriff and the new intimate partner were reflected in the “other” category as the
complainant of the fatality. Nearly 70% of the calls were received after the event.


Twenty-six telephone calls were received regarding the 19 domestic violence fatality reports
reviewed for the 2006 reporting period. This was due to multiple complainants recorded in
seven of the reports. The category of “Other” consists of: one anonymous caller, one bartender,
one land lord, one warrants deputy and one homeland security officer.


Event Information

Of the 19 domestic violence fatality reports reviewed for the 2006 reporting period, there were
three cases with multiple victims, resulting in a total of 23 fatalities. Firearms (18) accounted for
78% of the 23 deaths. Over half of the decedents, 56%, were killed in their own residences.
There were a total of 23 victims in the 19 incidents reviewed for the 2006 reporting period. The
offense type category reflected that the perpetrator killed multiple victims in three of the fatality
review reports. The review forms reflected three victims in one report and two victims in two reports.


Environment Information

Of the 19 domestic violence fatality reports reviewed for the 2006 reporting period, an active
injunction was filed on the perpetrator in 16% of the cases; previous injunctions had been
present on the perpetrator in 16% of the cases and in one case an injunction was requested by the decedent twice but withdrawn the next day, and in one case the perpetrator had returned to a previous relationship with the decedent while an active injunction was on file. One decedent had a previous injunction filed at the time of the fatality.


Relationship Information

Of the 23 domestic fatalities reviewed for the 2006 reporting period, the victim in 30% of the
fatalities was the spouse or ex-spouse of the perpetrator and in 35% of the fatalities the victim
was the ex-boyfriend, cohabitant or ex-cohabitant of the perpetrator.
Prior threats to kill the decedent occurred in 35% of the fatalities. Previous incidents of
domestic violence had been reported in 35% of the fatalities. A significant change in the
relationship between the decedent and perpetrator had occurred in 52% of the fatalities.
Regarding the 23 domestic violence fatalities reviewed for the 2006 reporting period, the
categories of spouse, ex-spouse, ex-boyfriend, co-habitant and ex-cohabitant made up 65% of
the relationships involved in the fatalities.

This report goes on to document escalating circumstances, services requested and/or legal orders and injunctions, prior indicators of a lethal incident, etc.

I dont like getting bogged down in reports detailing alot of "stats" however, this report makes it very clear that intimate partner homicides (IPH's) are prevelant and in many cases there was a clear pattern of violent events leading up to the homicide.
It should also be noted that men as well as women are victims of IPH, although not as often as women.

Should you be interested in seeing the report in its entirety here is the link: (You may have to copy and paste it).
http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/CitResCtr/Domestic_Violence/2006_DV_FRT.pdf