Domestic Violence Report Tracks Trends in NYC

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's (DOHMH) report, "Femicide In New York City: 1995-2002," published Oct. 22, reports that women in the city are more likely to be killed by a current or past husband, boyfriend or partner than by a stranger. Although the overall number of women murdered during this time period declined by more than one half, the number of women killed by intimate partners or other family members declined only slightly. Young, black or Hispanic women were at higher risk than older women of other ethnicities, and three-quarters of the women killed by their partners or other intimate family members were foreign-born. Part of the reason for this may be that some foreign-born women in the city are undocumented aliens who fear that seeking help for their domestic situations may lead to their being deported.