I’ve been reading, with heartbreak, The Salt Lake Tribune’s coverage of MacKenzie Lueck’s murder. I have children and grandchildren and can’t begin to understand the depth of sorrow, pain and heartbreak the Lueck family is now suffering.
It’s unfortunate that, though the rate of women murdered in single victim/single offender incidents dropped by 31% from 1996 to 2013, the murder of women, gender-based violence and sexual assault are epidemic in the United States.
A study released by the Violence Policy Center in 2015 documented that, in 2013, 1,615 females were murdered by men in single victim/single offender incidents nationwide. Firearms — primarily handguns — were most commonly used. In 2017 there were 15,129 total murder victims, from all causes, in the United States, and 3,222 of those victims were female.
Regarding domestic violence in 2013, African American women had a higher rate than white women and Native American women had a rate of domestic violence more than double the rate experienced by women of other races.
According to the Indian Law Resource Center, greater than 4 in 5 American Indian and Native women of Alaska have experienced violence. The highest rate of forcible sexual assault is suffered by Alaskan Native women. It has also been reported that they experience domestic violence rates up to 10 times higher than those noted in the rest of the United States. As a consequence of single victim/single offender violence in the United States, women are dying violently each day.
Fares Arguello, Salt Lake City
