A landmark 2003 study by a team of international researchers, led by Jacquelyn Campbell at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and published in the National Institute of Justice Journal, compared two groups of battered women. One group included 220 who had been killed by their partners; the other group included 343 who had been abused, but not killed.
What the researchers pinpointed was that where a history of domestic violence exists, certain other factors vastly increase the likelihood that a victim will be killed.
Battered women who have been threatened or assaulted with a gun — even once — are 20 times as likely than other battered women to be murdered. Those who have been choked are 10 times more likely to be killed.
Debate Magazine
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