A very dangerous home for women, South Carolina has ranked in the top 10 states for the rate women are murdered by men since at least 1998, when the Violence Policy Center (VPC) began keeping count.
South Carolina has ranked four times as the No. 1 deadliest state for women, most recently in 2015.
The Palmetto State currently ranks sixth in the VPC accounting of the rate women are murdered by men – but that’s before the Novel Coronavirus appeared. That rate is expected to worsen during the pandemic because women and children are confined to home for long stretches with their abuser.
In South Carolina, domestic violence victims make up
- 26.1 percent of all homicides
- 52.7 percent of total simple assault
- 42.6 percent of all violence victimization incidents
The presence of a gun during domestic violence increases the risk of homicide by 500 percent. In South Carolina, 49.4 percent of adults keep at least one gun in their home, ranking the state 17th in the nation.
In 2015, the Post and Courier won a Pulitzer Prize for its statewide reporting on “the carnage from domestic abuse.”
Domestic violence increases whenever families spend more time together, such as Christmas holidays and summer vacation – and terrifying pandemics. The forced isolation of the pandemic has made an increase in domestic violence a worldwide problem.
While most shelters report staying open, many have responded to the pandemic by reducing staff in safe houses, cancelling in-person support groups and group counseling, and refusing donations of used items.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline began collecting data in March 2020 to track the impact of Covid-19 on victims and survivors of domestic violence. Hotline officials reported that 90 percent of callers asking for help between March 16 and May 16, 2020 – as the Covid-19 pandemic spread throughout the nation – reported emotional and verbal abuse. Sixty-one percent reported physical abuse during that time period.
As it continues, the Covid-19 pandemic could particularly impact survivors of intimate partner violence:
- Abusive partners may withhold necessary items, such as hand sanitizer or disinfectants.
- Abusers may share misinformation about the pandemic to control or frighten partners and children.
- Abusers may withhold insurance cards, threaten to cancel insurance, or prevent partners and children from seeking medical attention.
- Programs that serve survivors have been affected; as the pandemic continues, shelters may fill or be forced to restrict or stop intakes. Survivors may also fear staying in a shelter’s close quarters with groups of people.
- Survivors who are older or have chronic heart or lung conditions may be at increased risk in public places where they would typically get support, such as shelters, counseling centers, or courthouses.
- Travel restrictions may impact a survivor’s escape or safety plan. For example, it is a risk to health to use public transportation or to fly.
- An abusive partner may feel justified in escalating isolation tactics.
Stressful times, such as a pandemic, create conditions for a rise in child abuse. School teachers and counselors are the primary source of reports to child protective services nationwide. With many schools closed, providers can’t keep their eyes on vulnerable children usually in their care.
For more information on domestic abuse and Covid-19, see Medical News Today, “A Double Pandemic” by the Council on Foreign Relations, and “When Lockdown Is Not Actually Safer,” by the Harvard Medical School.