Summary Findings
Summary findings from the New Jersey Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board Report February 2003:
- In most New Jersey homicide-suicides, the perpetrators were men, who Killed their intimate partners.
- Typically when the woman was planning to leave or the couple had recently separated. Repeatedly, experts in the field of Domestic Violence report that the most dangerous time for the victim is when she decides to leave the perpetrator.
- There was often evidence of a history of Domestic Violence, including police reports of prior incidents of violence, or threats of violence and/or reports, or suspicions of abuse by family, friends and employers.
- Lastly, guns were used in nearly all of these fatalities.
- Victims and perpetrators represented the diversity of residents in the general population with one exception: nearly all perpetrators were men, and nearly all victims were women.
- Findings in New Jersey match the commonly reported scenario of these deaths nationwide.