Domestic Violence Homicides and Suicides

I trust that everything happens for a reason, even when we are not wise enough to see it. – Oprah Winfrey

October is Domestic Violence Awareness month. Male related domestic violence deaths seem to be something that most domestic violence organizations, public policy makers, researchers and the media are not aware of or concerned about.

A recent report by the CDC “Surveillance for Violent Deaths — National Violent Death Reporting System, 16 States, 2005 (SVD), documents that approximately 30% of suicides are precipitated by problems between intimate partners that lead to fatalities.

The SVD documents a domestic violence tragedy that remains largely unexplored. The SVD notes, that of the 16 reporting states, problems between intimate partners precipitated 2,301 of the male suicides and 439 of the female suicides.

Twice as many females as males attempt suicide but the rate of completed suicides in the SVD report was nearly 4 times greater for males than females. The SVD and many other fatality review studies suggest that most people who commit suicide are clinically depressed, have other mental health issues, face criminal or civil justice interventions, suffer from financial problems or are confronted with other life altering stressors that seem to be created by one or both partners.

In the 1990’s approximately 30,000 people each year took their own lives. The extrapolation of that SVD data seems to suggest that it is possible that each year there may be approximately 6,750 male and 2,250 female suicides that are precipitated by problems between intimate partners. These suicidal deaths are domestic violence related deaths and their numbers far exceed the number of domestic violence homicides.

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) report, “Reviewing Domestic Violence Deaths” (RDVD), appears in the November 2003 issue of the NIJ Journal. This NIJ report notes that fatality reviews might lead to changes that could deter some domestic violence related deaths.

The author of the RDVD notes that a significant number of women may commit suicide because of domestic violence. However, the RDVD did not once mention a single male domestic violence related death either by homicide or suicide. Also, the author suggests proactive interventions only for females and simply ignores the domestic violence related deaths of men.

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence operates as the “official voice” for domestic violence organizations. The NCADV mission statement publicly proclaims that it is only concerned with the abuse of women and children, not men. Interveners, public policy makers and researchers seem little concerned about male related domestic violence deaths, but the data indicates that they should be.

Approximately one of every three domestic violence suicides includes an intimate partner related homicide and the majority of those victims (3 of every 4) are female. Hence, positive education and resources for all potential offenders may save lives regardless of gender.

The fatality review data documents that more males than females are homicide offenders (9 out of 10). However, interveners and public policy makers need to recognize that if they provide resources and screening for the risk factors of suicide in intimate partner relationships for both males and females, some of these homicide/suicides might be deterred and more insight gained.

Researchers and social scientists must be willing to explore multiple hypotheses and theories rather than being confined to contemporary “one-solutions-fits-all” Duluth styled interventions.. Further, interveners should recognize that there is no empirical evidence-based data that documents a “bright line” that separates child, sibling, spousal, intimate partner, and elder abuse from violence against adult heterosexual women. Domestic violence interventions and programs must begin at the beginning, not the end.

Worldwide, nations have a history of setting the rights of one group of people against the rights of another group. Contemporarily, as their websites document, most domestic violence organizations continue to minimize, marginalize or ignore male domestic violence related deaths.

The vast majority of domestic violence interveners understand that far more males need to become involved in education and prevention programs. Perhaps when interveners, public policy makers and researchers acknowledge that more men than women suffer from domestic violence related deaths, more males will become involved.

Domestic violence interveners, public policy makers and researchers need to understand that “my group is more important than your group” interventional efforts are Mephistophelian in nature. They were wrong during the 17^th, 18th, 19^th, and 20^th centuries and remain so in this 21^st century.

Richard L. Davis

President, www.Familynonviolence.org