Results from the Hawaii Domestic Violence Fatality Review, 2000-2009

BACKGROUND: A substantial proportion of all homicides in the U.S. are committed by intimate partners of the victims, with about 1 in 3 of female homicides committed by intimate/domestic partners.  Nationally in 2008, Hawaii ranked #23 with a rate of 1.26 per 100,000 population of females murdered by males, in single victim/single offender homicides.

METHODS:  In 1997, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS §321-472) authorized the Department of Health (DOH) to conduct multidisciplinary and multiagency reviews of domestic violence fatalities to reduce the incidence of preventable fatalities.  These retrospective reviews of events leading up to a domestic violence fatalities analyze (1) incident cases, their characteristics, risk factors and (2) the system responses to these cases by community agencies, institutions, and other organizations involved. This poster presentation summarizes the results of the retrospective reviews of events leading up to domestic violence related fatalities in Hawaii from 2000-2009.  There were 45 adjudicated cases involving 62 fatalities; almost one-half of the fatalities were homicide/suicide combinations. 

RESULTS:  In the 45 cases the majority of the victims were female (86.7%) and the majority of the perpetrators were male (86.7%).  Filipinos had the highest proportion (28.9%) being fatal victims, followed by Whites (20.0%) and those of multiple ethnicities (13.3%).  Among perpetrators, the majority were Filipino (22.2%) followed by Whites, Other ethnic groups, multiple ethnicities (17.8% each) and Japanese (15.6%). In just over one-half of the cases (53.2%), the victim was between 21-40 years of age at the time of death. In more than two-thirds of the cases, the victim had made some attempt to leave the relationship prior to the fatality (77.8%).  English was not the first language for 9 victims (20%) and 11 perpetrators (25%) and these included Filipino and other languages.  A substantial number of victims (11.1%) and perpetrators (17.8%) could not speak or verbalize in English without a translator. 

CONCLUSIONS:  In the vast majority of cases (95.6%) there was (1) agency involvement with either the victim alone or the perpetrator alone, or both, and (2) a known history of domestic violence prior to the fatality. For the years 2005-2009 the DVFR identified, reviewed and confirmed 16 of 27 reported homicide cases for the state and found that 1 of 5 of these homicides were domestic violence related. Increased awareness of the problem of domestic violence, especially among limited English speaking ethnic groups (e.g. Filipinos), and agency actions to prevent such fatalities are recommended.