South Carolina has returned to the top spot in a national ranking that reflects badly on our state. Fortunately, officials have not only recognized the problem, but are trying to do something about it.
In 2001, the most recent year for which these figures are available, 64 women were killed by men in South Carolina. In 61 of those cases, the proven or alleged perpetrator was a man the woman knew, and in 41 of them, the offenders were husbands, ex-husbands, boyfriends or ex-boyfriends.
That rate of 3.15 per 100,000 residents was not just the highest in the United States in 2001, it was the highest nationwide in the six years that the nonprofit Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C., has been reporting these grim statistics in its annual "When Men Kill Women" report. That rate -- and that ranking -- demand that South Carolina continue to move aggressively toward reducing domestic violence within our borders.
As S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster responded to the news that our state has moved up from No. 3 in the previous year: "It's sad, it's shameful and it's a tragedy. We must address and correct it."
Mr. McMaster is among those who didn't need to read the latest rankings to know that changes are needed in how the authorities handle the problem. Earlier this year, he announced plans for a new pilot program in two counties (Orangeburg and Kershaw), with private attorneys volunteering for prosecutor duty on domestic-violence cases heard in magistrate and municipal courts.
Effective prosecution raises the odds that such cases will result in convictions -- and convictions raise the odds that a potentially deadly pattern can be broken before it's too late.
The attorney general explained that domestic violence tends to perpetuate itself: "It's cyclical and gets worse. It's not only the impact on one life. It's the long-term impact on the children who live with this."
Tougher domestic-violence legislation, passed by the General Assembly and signed into law this year by Gov. Mark Sanford, also should help. The new law makes aggravated criminal domestic violence -- third offense -- a felony and requires counseling or jail terms for repeat offenders.
The new push to prosecute domestic violence makes those who commit it less likely to get away with it. Mr. McMaster said about 40 lawyers across the state have already volunteered for the pilot programs, with a training session scheduled in Columbia on Oct. 16. A member of the attorney general's office is also prosecuting cases in a Domestic Violence Court conducted by Columbia City Court Judge Lester Bates. That city court keeps a separate schedule, allowing support groups for victims to provide their expertise on a more regular basis.
South Carolina can, and must, do a better job of fighting domestic violence. Obtaining more convictions on the first- and second-offense cases in magistrate or municipal courts should force more offenders to face the consequences of their actions -- and help stop an insidious cycle.
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