DOMESTIC VIOLENCE is a complicated problem that does not lend itself to a single answer. Rather, since it involves not only violence but also societal attitudes toward women, their economic status, their self-esteem, the most intimate personal relationships and all the emotion that results when things go bad, it requires a variety of traditional and innovative approaches.

But one thing that is not complicated is this: In 2001, women were killed by men at a higher rate in South Carolina than in any other state. We’ve had that distinction before, and we consistently land in the top five. And as long as our state remains one of the most deadly for women, as long as women in our state are killed by men more than twice as often as the national average — not to mention all the victims who live through their abuse — we have not done enough.

Clearly, part of the problem is that we are more violent than much of the country; our state also routinely lands near the top in murders and other violent crimes. That is itself a problem that we must not accept; and beyond that, it’s not a complete explanation for our alarming numbers.

In recent years, our state has taken several smart steps to combat domestic violence. We passed laws requiring police to make arrests on domestic violence calls even if the victim decided she didn’t want to press charges. When The State discovered that those charges weren’t being prosecuted, then-Attorney General Charlie Condon ordered solicitors not to drop cases just because the victim didn’t want to testify. Lawmakers increased the money going to abuse victims’ shelters and made it easier for victims to get restraining orders. This year, they made serious and repeated domestic abuse charges felonies, increasing the penalties. Most recently, Attorney General Henry McMaster started using volunteer attorneys to prosecute domestic violence cases in magistrate court, where too often abusers were being found not guilty because they had lawyers and the state’s case was being presented by police officers.

Many of these changes haven’t had time to work yet. But given what a serious problem we have, there is every reason to believe they alone won’t go far enough.

Some things we can do are simple. We can prohibit convicted batterers from owning guns. We can reverse a new law that allows first-time batterers to have their records expunged; it’s important to keep those convictions on record, because sentences are pretty light until you get into repeat offenses. We can finish the job of taking the most serious cases more seriously, by putting them in the category of crimes for which offenders have to serve most of their sentences. We can do a better job of providing shelters and other support services for victims, so they feel safe leaving their abusers.

Other changes aren’t so simple. We have to change our attitudes. We have to teach boys and men that women aren’t their property. We have to teach girls and women that they are better off leaving abusive partners, no matter how difficult that seems. We have to teach churches and other support groups to put their support behind those ideas. We have to teach police that stopping domestic violence is a central part of their job. We have to teach judges — particularly magistrates — that society does not tolerate domestic violence, and that society will not tolerate them if they continue to slap offenders on the wrist. Until we make significant progress on all those fronts, domestic violence will continue to be a major problem in our state.