106 domestic violence homicides in NC in 2011

Raleigh, N.C. — The North Carolina Attorney General's Office said Monday that 106 people in North Carolina died as a result of domestic violence last year – one less than in 2010.

Of those in 2011, 68 of the victims were female and 38 were male, while 81 of the alleged offenders were male and 25 were female, according to the numbers.

Although Attorney General Roy Cooper said a drop in numbers is always positive, more needs to be done prevent such crimes.

"Domestic violence is a dangerous crime that too often turns deadly," he said in a statement. "North Carolina must do more to get help to domestic violence victims before they become murder victims."

According to 2011 statistics, 13 of the victims had taken out protective orders against their alleged killers. Of those, six were in effect at the time of the crimes.

One suspect had been on pre-trial release for another domestic violence crime at the time.

Cooper said that, in addition to protective orders, a way the state could help protect victims of domestic violence is to require supervised probation for offenders.

Another way, he said, is the Address Confidentiality Program, which shields the addresses of victims of domestic violence and sexual assault from abusers.

About 850 people are currently enrolled in the program.

Cooper said the state Child Fatality Task Force and North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence are also providing more training for those who handle domestic violence cases and prevention training for educators in schools.

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Latest Comments

Ban families. That will stop domestic violence.

Titus Pullo
July 3, 2012 7:11 p.m.

If the "warning signs" or "red flags" were so easily recognizable, so many people would not miss them. They're not evident often, until it's too late. Our society actually promotes verbal and emotional abuse to a great degree. Because it's so insidious, most people don't recognize it when it's happening. And this behavior subsequently often leads to physical abuse. Further, abusive people can be *very* charming, often with a Jekyll/Hyde personality that fools a lot of people. Many of them can even fool psychologists. Yet you expect the regular, non-trained person to always be able to recognize one? Look - you don't help anyone by excusing the abusers and their behavior and blaming the victim here.

And again, unless you've *been* abused, you have no basis upon which to rest some of the terribly damaging and ignorant comments I've read here which are not helpful to DV victims. Quite the contrary - they are counterproductive.

barrettsh
July 3, 2012 12:45 p.m.

Amazing the amount of 'blame the victim' here. There are often financial, logistical or other reasons victims don't "just leave". If it means choosing between living in a car with kids in dead of Winter or being slapped around, many will choose getting slapped around. Don't deign to have any clue what being abused is like unless you've been there. Otherwise, you are making unfair and very ignorant snap judgements that are not helpful.

Also, due to the way our society treats this issue and male/female roles, many do not recognize the "red flags" early on. They don't even know what they are and don't realize what danger they're in until it's too late. Once again, easy to blame the victim if you've not been there yourself. DV doesn't just happen to stupid people or people who "make bad choices". It happens to people of every educational and social level - from wealthy CxOs to single parents at the poverty line and everywhere in between.

barrettsh
July 3, 2012 12:37 p.m.

The court system should make sure that children's rights are protected and taken into account before any DVPOs are approved. One parent can actually abuse the system by *claiming abuse* when he/she is only using the system to munipulate the other parent and using it as a means of controlling the parent and preventing children from having contact with the other parent. For a DVPO to be legal and lawful in NC there is supposed to be finding of facts presented in court when a request is made to obtain the DVPO. http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-779368 this link providing the case which was filed in Feb 2012 in an appeal explaining the process and what should be done in order to make sure that the DVPO is a legal and lawful document in NC. There is a lot of room for improvement in the way the family courts address family issues which could make a BIG difference for all parties involved.

dollibug
July 3, 2012 9:43 a.m.

"According to 2011 statistics, 13 of the victims had taken out protective orders against their alleged killers. Of those, six were in effect at the time of the crimes."

Please! Protective orders are a joke. They are only made of paper and will only keep away someone who is not a lawbreaker. For someone who's already broken the law by abusing his/her partner, a piece of paper won't do anything to deter future violence. We need to come up with something better to protect victims of violence and until we put their right to safety ahead of the perpetrator's rights, they will never be safe.