Domestic Abuse Fatality Review (DAFR)

Domestic abuse, also referred to as intimate partner violence (IPV), domestic violence, or dating abuse, is a pattern of abusive behaviors used by one partner to gain and maintain power and control over another partner in an intimate relationship. Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic, psychological, technological actions or threats of actions, or other patterns of coercive behavior that influence another person within an intimate partner relationship. It can happen to anyone regardless of race, age, sexual orientation, religion, sex, or gender identity and affects people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and education levels.

Domestic abuse is a significant health problem and it has lifelong consequences. According to the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence (LCADV), Louisiana consistently leads the nation in domestic homicides and has ranked among the top five almost every year since 1997. The Violence Policy Center 2020 study, When Men Murder Women, ranked Louisiana fifth in the United States for women murdered by men. This report shows that homicides in which the victim-to-offender relationship could be identified, 98 percent of female victims (39 out of 40) were murdered by someone they knew. Of the victims who knew their offenders, 56 percent (22 victims) were wives, common-law wives, ex-wives, or girlfriends of the offenders.