Comparisons among Female Homicides Occurring in Rural,Intermediate,and Urban Counties in North Carolina

Abstract

Whereas both popular and public health attention regarding homicide and violence have focused on urban areas and male victims, very little is known about the magnitude of female homicide in rural areas, or how the situations in which these fatalities occur may differ from urban violence. This study addresses this gap by using data abstracted from the North Carolina State Medical Examiner System to identify how the rates and circumstances of female homicide differ for women living in rural counties compared with women living in the state's urban and intermediate counties. The study identified a nonlinear pattern, with the intermediate counties having the highest female homicide rate, followed by the urban, and then the rural counties. Additional findings suggest that a greater proportion of rural female victims are killed by intimate partners, and that the effects of urban-rural status are eclipsed by race and, to a lesser extent, by age.