FEMALE HOMICIDE Femicide in New York City: Surveillance and Findings, 19952006

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FEMALE HOMICIDE (Femicide) in New York City
Surveillance and Findings, 1995-2006

• Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
• Bureau of Epidemiology Services
• Injury Epidemiology Unit

Updated August 2008
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Outline

• Surveillance Rationale
• Methods and Definitions
• Trends in Overall Femicides, 1995-2006
• Trends in Intimate Partner Femicides, 1995-2006
• Characteristics of Recent Femicides, 2004-2006

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Surveillance Rationale

• According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in
  2005 nationwide, there were 16,667 victims of
  homicide.
• 13,122 were male victims
• 3,545 were female victims
• Female victimization differs from male
  victimization.
• From 1976 to 2005, 30.1 of female homicides were
  perpetrated by an intimate partner, compared to
  only 5.0 of male homicides.

Source Bureau of Justice Statistics
http//www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/gender.htm
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Annual Review Methods

• List of all New York City female homicide victims
  (12 years) is obtained from the Department of
  Health and Mental Hygiene Bureau of Vital
  Statistics for the previous year.
• Files from the Office of the Chief Medical
  Examiner (OCME) are matched to this list.
• Files include autopsy, crime scene, police
  reports, and supplemental case information.
• Standardized coding techniques are used to
  abstract information on assault circumstances and
  the relationship between the victim and alleged
  offender.

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Definitions

• Intimate Partner current or former partner in an
  intimate relationship, including common-law
  husbands, boyfriends, girlfriends, lovers, dating
  partner, etc.
• Non-Intimate Partner includes family members who
  are not intimates such as biological, adopted,
  step, or foster parents, children, siblings,
  grandparents, cousins, nieces, nephews, or other
  relatives perpetrators involved in robberies,
  sex crimes, or drug-related incidents and
  persons unknown to the victim.
• Unknown No information on victim-perpetrator
  relationship was available in Medical Examiner
  records.

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Data Analysis

• Restrictions
• For reasons of confidentiality and potential
  identification, subgroups with counts less than
  or equal to 5 have not been included on graphs
  and tables.
• As a result, select borough, age group, and
  race/ethnicity group findings are not displayed.

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Data Analysis

• Rate computation
• Rate computation is based on small numbers of
  events, so crude death rates are presented here.
• Age-adjusted rates would be unstable at these
  numbers, and are not presented here.
• All rates are presented per 100,000 women (ages
  12 years and older).
• Caution
• Differences in age composition of populations may
  affect comparisons of crude death rates.

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Data Analysis

• Presentation of Significant Data
• Only statistically significant differences
  (plt0.05) are presented in the text without
  preface.
• The language data suggest is used to present
  differences which are not statistically
  significant, but whose current numbers may
  indicate future trends.

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Overall Femicide Findings,1995-2006
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Overall Femicides, 1995-2006
Overall Femicide
Source Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
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Overall Femicide
Source Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner Analysis NYC DoHMH, Bureau of
Epidemiology Services
12
Overall Femicide Trends, New York City, 1995-2006
Overall Femicide

• The demographic factors considered in the
  examination of trends are
• Borough of Residence
• Race/Ethnicity
• Age
• Nativity (Born in United States, Puerto Rico, or
  a US territory, versus foreign-born)

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Overall Femicide
Numbers for Staten Island are too small to be
displayed in the graph.
Source Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner Analysis NYC DoHMH, Bureau of
Epidemiology Services
14
Over time, femicide rates have been
consistently higher among black and Hispanic
women compared to white women. Numbers of Asian
women and women of other race/ethnicity are too
small to be displayed in the graph.
Overall Femicide
Source Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner Analysis NYC DoHMH, Bureau of
Epidemiology Services
15
Overall Femicide
Source Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner Analysis NYC DoHMH, Bureau of
Epidemiology Services
16
Overall Femicide
Source Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner Analysis NYC DoHMH, Bureau of
Epidemiology Services
17
Summary of TrendsOverall Femicides, 1995-2006
Overall Femicide

• In 2006, women living in the Bronx had the
  highest rates, and women in Queens had the
  lowest.
• Black and Hispanic women are at greater risk than
  women of other race/ethnicity groups, although
  rates among black women have been dropping while
  rates among Hispanic women have been rising.
• In previous years, rates were highest among women
  ages 20 29 and 30 39. In 2005 and 2006,
  rates have decreased among women in these groups,
  while increasing among women ages 12 19, 40
  49, and 50 years.
• Since 1995, rates among both US- and foreign-born
  women have decreased, with the greater decrease
  seen among foreign-born women.

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Intimate Partner Femicide Findings,1995-2006
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Femicides, 1995-2006
Intimate Partner Femicide
Source Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
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Intimate Partner Femicide Trends, New York City,
1995-2006
Intimate Partner Femicide

• The demographic factors considered in the
  examination of trends are
• Borough of Residence
• Race/Ethnicity
• Nativity (Born in the US, Puerto Rico, or a US
  Territory, versus foreign-born)
• Pooled Years for sub-group comparisons
• Because the counts are relatively small for
  intimate partner femicide, some data have been
  grouped into 2-year increments.

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Intimate Partner Femicide
Source Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner Analysis NYC DoHMH, Bureau of
Epidemiology Services
22
Intimate Partner Femicide
Numbers of intimate partner femicides from
Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island are too
small to be displayed in this graph.
Source Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner Analysis NYC DoHMH, Bureau of
Epidemiology Services
23
Intimate Partner Femicide
Numbers of intimate partner femicides among
women of white, Asian, and other race/ethnicity
groups are too small to be displayed in this
graph.
Source Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner Analysis NYC DoHMH, Bureau of
Epidemiology Services
24
Intimate Partner Femicide
Source Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner Analysis NYC DoHMH, Bureau of
Epidemiology Services
25
Summary of TrendsIntimate Partner Femicides,
1995-2006
Intimate Partner Femicide

• Similar to overall femicide rates
• Rates of intimate partner femicide remain high in
  the Bronx and Brooklyn.
• Black and Hispanic women have higher rates of
  intimate partner femicide than other women,
  although rates among black women have decreased
  significantly while rates among Hispanic women
  have not.
• Foreign-born women have similar risk to women
  born in the US, Puerto Rico, and US Territories.

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Characteristics of Recent Femicides, 2004-2006
Findings presented on the following slides come
from 3 years of pooled data, 2004-2006.
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Circumstances of Femicides, 2004-2006
Recent Femicide

• Crime scene
• Method What weapons were used?
• Location Where did the crime occur?
• Perpetrator status Did the perpetrator die? If
  so, how?
• Home
• With whom did the victim live (e.g., perpetrator,
  children)?
• Children Were they present for the crime?
• Victim
• Toxicology Was alcohol or cocaine found in her
  system?
• Sexual Assault Was the homicide linked to a
  sexual assault?

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Crime Scene
Recent Femicide

• Method What weapons were used?
• Location Where did the crime occur?
• Perpetrator status Did the perpetrator die? If
  so, how?

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Recent Femicide
Data suggest that the two most common weapons
used in femicide regardless of victim-perpetrator
relationship are firearms and cutting
instruments.
Source Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner Analysis NYC DoHMH, Bureau of
Epidemiology Services
30
Recent Femicide
More than two thirds of intimate partner
femicides occur in the victims home. While many
non-intimate partner and femicides of unknown
type also occur in the victims home, one quarter
are committed in an outside location, such as a
public park or street.
Source Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner Analysis NYC DoHMH, Bureau of
Epidemiology Services
31
Recent Femicide
More perpetrators of intimate partner femicides
commit suicide immediately after homicide than do
perpetrators of non-intimate partner or femicides
of unknown type.
Source Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner Analysis NYC DoHMH, Bureau of
Epidemiology Services
32
Home
Recent Femicide

• Household Composition With whom did the victim
  live?
• Children Were they present for the crime?

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Recent Femicide
More than 41 of intimate partner victims lived
with a partner, compared with 20.5 of
non-intimate partner femicide and 15.1 of
unknown type victims.
May include parents, siblings, aunts, uncles,
nieces, nephews, cousins and any combination of
relatives, or unrelated roommates and/or friends,
but does NOT include intimate partners or
children, or unknown.
Source Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner Analysis NYC DoHMH, Bureau of
Epidemiology Services
34
Recent Femicide
Exposure means that children have found the
body, witnessed the homicide, were present (e.g.,
in the house) for it, or were physically attacked
during it. Data suggest that intimate partner
femicides are more likely to expose children to
the incident than other types of femicide.
Source Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner Analysis NYC DoHMH, Bureau of
Epidemiology Services
35
Victim
Recent Femicide

• Toxicology Was alcohol or cocaine found in her
  system?
• Sexual Assault Was the homicide linked to a
  sexual assault?

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Recent Femicide
High numbers of femicide victims test positive
for alcohol and/or cocaine usage, regardless of
perpetrator-victim relationship.
Source Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner Analysis NYC DoHMH, Bureau of
Epidemiology Services
37
Recent Femicide
From 2004 2006, data suggest that non-intimate
partner femicide victims are more likely than
intimate partner femicide victims to be linked to
a probable sexual assault in conjunction with the
homicide.
Source Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner Analysis NYC DoHMH, Bureau of
Epidemiology Services
38
Summary of Circumstances, 2004-2006
Recent Femicide

• Intimate Partner Femicides
• More than two thirds occur in the home.
• Perpetrators are more likely to commit suicide
  immediately afterwards.
• Children are more likely to be exposed they
  either find the body, are present for the
  homicide, or are present and physically attacked
  in 14.1 of cases.
• Non-Intimate Partner Femicides
• Nearly twice the rate were linked to sexual
  assaults.
• Crimes are more likely to occur in an outside
  location, such as a public park or street.

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Conclusions

• There was a decline in the numbers of all types
  of femicide in New York City from 2005 to 2006.
• Intimate partner femicide rates have largely
  decreased since 1995, although not among all
  populations for example, the rates among
  Hispanic women are unchanged from 2000 2006.
• Most intimate partner femicide occurs in the
  home. Prevention needs to make public the private
  nature of intimate partner violence.
• Interventions to discourage intimate partner
  violence should target those with highest risk,
  possibly by race/ethnicity, age, and borough of
  residence.