When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of 2020 Homicide Data

Each year the VPC releases this report in advance of Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October. The study uses 2020 data, the most recent year for which information is available. Using 2020 data, the study found that the national homicide rate for females murdered by males was 1.34 per 100,000. The report found that 89 percent of female victims were killed by someone they knew, with 60 percent of those victims being wives, common-law wives, ex-wives, or girlfriends of the offenders. Firearms were the most common weapon used, accounting for 61 percent of female homicides where the weapon was identified. The report also highlights the disproportionate impact of lethal violence on Black women, who were murdered by males at a rate of 2.96 per 100,000, nearly three times the rate for white women.