"BEYOND STATISTICS:
Lethal Domestic And Sexual Violence
Against Women In Kansas"
A REPORT BY KCSDV
October 2006
Comments by Sandy Barnett
I'm Sandy Barnett, executive director here at KCSDV. Our goals are to achieve safety and justice for victims while holding perpetrators accountable for their conduct. Our hope is that one day all Kansans can have safe homes and safe streets.
After listening to the other speakers today, it's clear that as a nation and as a state, we have made significant gains in our efforts to serve victims and to hold perpetrators accountable. But as the stories in our new report make clear - there is more work to be done.
Today KCSDV releases its report entitled "Beyond Statistics" which marks the first time that lethal or near lethal violence against women during the most recent two-year period in Kansas is collected in one document. "Beyond Statistics" is a report generated from Kansas media reports and serves not only as the title but as our goal today - to know victims' names, to remember their stories, and to honor their lives.
Because the report is based on information from media reports, it is possible that it doesn't include all incidents of murders of women. In spite of that fact, these stories do provide valuable information.
The report focuses on the murders and attempted murders of women at the hands of their current or former intimate partners because women are at much greater risk of domestic and sexual violence than men.
Many national studies have demonstrated:
That women are at greater risk of domestic and sexual victimization than are men. This reality is overwhelmingly reinforced by this report. Twenty-one women were killed by their intimate partners during the two years studied. Five men were killed (one was self-defense). That means that women were killed in sexual and domestic violence-related fatalities at approximately four times the rate that men were killed. Additionally, Kansas statistics indicate that:
- 70% of domestic violence victims are female (law enforcement reports)
- 98% of rape victims are female (law enforcement reports)
- 92% of those seeking help from domestic violence programs in Kansas are female
- 85% of those seeking help from sexual assault programs are female
Sexual and domestic violence occur in all communities and across all demographic boundaries.
- Women have been murdered all across Kansas, from Goodland in the west, to Leavenworth in the east.
- Women have died in smaller towns like Iola and Riverton, and in bigger cities like Topeka and Wichita.
- Victims have been professional women, college students and retirees. They have ranged in age from 14 to 72.
Perpetrators use a wide range of tactics to torture and murder their victims.
- Women have been shot to death, beaten to death and strangled to death. One woman, Angela in Hays, suffocated to death after her ex-boyfriend, Robert, forced more than three handfuls of dirt and debris down her throat.
- Briawna from Iola was found dead in her smoke- filled apartment after being raped and murdered by her ex-boyfriend who then attempted to set the apartment ablaze.
Sexual and domestic violence impact all facets of family and community life, including work, social activities, and family and friends. Violence against women touches us all!
- Sixty percent of these women were killed at home.
- Lisa of Kansas City was killed by her ex-boyfriend, Bruce, as she arrived at work one Monday morning. He chased her, threw her to the ground and shot her at point-blank range.
- Irma was shot in the head in front of a club in Garden City. She was killed by Jose, the man she had only just broken up with.
- Many loved ones of these women have witnessed acts of domestic violence. Eight family members and friends of the women murdered have had their own lives put in jeopardy. In one case, David in Chanute was jailed on attempted murder charges after dousing his wife, Kim, and their two children with gasoline and trying to set them on fire.
- Perpetrators also have put the lives of law enforcement in danger. You may have heard about the death of Kurt Ford, a Harvey County deputy who was killed during a domestic violence standoff in Newton last year. His killer was just sentenced life in prison.
- There have been eight other standoffs resulting from domestic violence incidents. And perpetrators have been charged with attempted murder against five other law enforcement officers. Twelve women and children have been held hostage during the non-lethal standoffs.
Their stories also support what victims know all too well - that perpetrators make it dangerous for women to leave relationships.
- Nearly one half of these women had separated or were in the process of separating from the men who killed them.
- Deborah from Neodesha was shot by her estranged husband in front of their son just 10 days after filing for a divorce. Having previously moved out of the house, she had returned home with her son and sister to pick up her belongings. Deborah was on the phone with 911 at the time she was killed.
We've come a long way in providing services for victims, but as this coverage map demonstrates, there is more work to do.
- Only 40 percent of Kansas counties have available to adult victims of domestic violence timely crisis services provided face-to-face within a 30-minute response time.
- KCSDV will work with the Kansas Legislature to expand the coverage area of services.
- Other recommendations can be found in your press packet.
We are here today at the beginning of Domestic Violence Awareness Month to become aware of victims names, to remember their stories, and to honor their lives. We can honor them by continuing our efforts to serve victims, to hold perpetrators accountable, and to prevent the violence in the first place.
Thank you, this concludes our formal comments and we welcome questions from the press.
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