According to newly released data from the Violence Policy Center, Arizona ranks 7th in the country in the number of women murdered by men.
The report comes from 2017 statistics that break down the age, race, weapons, relationships and circumstances of the homicide rates.
The data shows that in 2017, there were 68 homicides involving female victims in Arizona. Eight percent of the victims were under the age of 18 years old, and eight percent were 65 years old or older.
A majority of the victims were white women, with 56 recorded victims out of the 68 total.
Arizona's findings vary from the general report findings that, "Overall, black females were murdered by males at a rate (2.55 per 100,000) more than twice as high as white females (1.13 per 100,000)."
In Arizona, 86 percent of the victims were murdered by someone they knew, and of that group, 70 percent were wives, common-law wives, ex-wives or girlfriends of the offenders.
"Compared to a man, a woman is far more likely to be killed by her spouse, an intimate acquaintance, or a family member than by a stranger," the report says.
A majority of the victims were also killed in incidents related to arguments between the victim and offender. The data also shows that a majority of the female victims were shot and killed.
"Most often, females were killed by males in the course of an argument—most frequently with a firearm," the report says, again lining up with the statistics from Arizona incidents.
Arizona comes after other states with high numbers of female homicide victims like Alaska, Louisiana, Arkansas, Nevada, South Carolina and Tennessee.
The report shows the average age of a female victim of 41 years old.
The report did not specifically reference "domestic violence" or the involvement of "domestic violence" in the homicide statistics. Still, here are some resources for Arizonans experiencing domestic violence, from the Arizona Department of Economic Security.
