Violence in relationships is something which should never happen, but which sadly does. The harms that domestic abuse can cause can be extensive. Domestic violence sometimes even has fatal results.
Recently, a report was issued by the Texas Council on Family Violence which contained some very troubling news regarding domestic violence in Texas. This news is that Texas has experienced a rise in the number of women, per year, killed by a domestic violence attack by a spouse, significant other or ex.
According to the report, in 2012, 114 such deaths occurred. This is 12 deaths higher than the total from the previous year. One wonders if there is anything in particular that is behind this rise.
Based on the report’s findings, the Dallas-Fort Worth area saw more fatal domestic violence attacks than most other areas in Texas. Two of the main counties of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Dallas County and Tarrant County, ranked second and third respectively when it came to Texas counties with the highest number of women killed in domestic violence attacks in 2012. The only county which had a higher number of such deaths was Harris County.
According to the report, the ages of the women killed in domestic violence attacks in 2012 were between 15 and 84. This illustrates the sad reality that domestic violence can occur at all different ages.
One hopes that governments and citizens here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and in the rest of Texas will do everything they can to prevent the occurrence of domestic violence, particularly fatal domestic abuse. The findings of the recent report give rise to the question of whether enough is currently being done in this regard.
What do you think? What further efforts should be taken to prevent the occurrence of domestic violence?
Source: KCBD, “114 Texas women killed in domestic violence incidents last year,” Oct. 31, 2013