In Kristy's Honor

To all those who knew and loved and are mourning Kristy, I am so sorry for your loss. I mourn with you. This tragedy has reached the hearts of so many. I have been unable to sleep the past several nights and have thought about this a lot. What can we collectively do?

In honor of this beautiful young woman, let’s start taking steps to really “protect” victims of domestic violence. Perhaps we could start to petition a law to be enacted (Kristy’s Law) that when a restraining / protective order is filed (another 50,000 will be filed in the United States this month), especially after being threatened by a spouse to use a weapon to harm them, that access to firearms (the one weapon that can be used on a victim from a distance) to the person making the threat be taken away. The right to bear arms should be taken away if that person threatens the safety of another.

According to the Women’s Commission for Domestic Violence Services: 1/3 to 1/2 of all women in the United States will be assaulted by their intimate partner at some time in their life.

Many battered women leave their abusers permanently, and despite many obstacles, succeed in building a life free of violence. Almost all battered women leave at least once. The perpetrator dramatically escalates his violence and coercive tactics when she leaves (or tries to).

• 50 to 75% of all homeless women and children are fleeing domestic violence.
• A woman is at a 75% greater risk of being killed or injured when attempting to leave.
• Every month, more than 50,000 women in the United States seek a restraining / protective order.
• There are 3 times more animal shelters than safe houses for victims in this Country.

What are the predictors of domestic violence?

Risk Factors for Femicide, (a study conducted to determine the predictors of domestic violence with families of 220 female victims of intimate-partner homicide from eleven cities across the country, as well as a control group of 343 women who reported being the victims of physical abuse in a two year period) found the following:

Access to firearms increased the risk of intimate partner homicide more than five times more than in instances where there were no weapons, according to Risk Factors for Femicide. The findings also "suggest" that abusers who possess guns "tend to inflict the most severe abuse."

Separating from an abusive partner after having lived with him, leaving the home she shares with an abusive partner or asking her abusive partner to leave the home they share were all factors that put a woman at "higher risk" of becoming a victim of homicide.

An abuser's behavior also is a factor is predicting homicide. The risk of homicide "was increased nine-fold by the combination of a highly controlling abuser and the couple's separation after living together," finds Risk Factors for Femicide. An abuser's threats with a weapon or threats to kill his victim also "were associated with substantially higher risks" for her murder.

The article states: Steps such as increasing shelter services for battered women, increasing employment opportunities, and restricting abusers' access to guns can potentially reduce intimate partner homicide.

(American Journal of Public Health (July 2003, Vol. 93, No. 7)

Sincere wishes for comfort and change,

Holly McAllister