Georgia among top 15 states in US for rate of women killed by men, according to latest homicide data

A new report from the Violence Policy Center, a research-based advocacy organization aimed at stopping gun death and injury, found that Georgia is among the top 15 states in the U.S. when it comes to the rate of women killed by men.

The annual "When Men Murder Women" report encompasses the most recent homicide data from the Supplementary Homicide Report, which is regularly submitted to the Federal Bureau Investigation. The data is from 2015.

Analysts with VPC examine instances involving one female homicide victim and one male offender for the report, now in its 20th year.

According to VPC research, the rate of women murdered by men in single victim and single offender incidents dropped from 1.57 per 100,000 women in 1996 to 1.12 per 100,000 women in 2015. That’s a 29 percent decrease over the course of about 20 years.

Based on the 2017 report, Georgia ranked 14 among the 50 states.

In 2015, according to the report, 72 women in Georgia were murdered by men in single victim/single offender homicides, putting the homicide rate 1.38 per 100,000 women.

Compared to last year's VPC report, which used 2014 data and ranked Georgia eighth in the nation, Georgia experienced a nearly 15 percent decrease in single female victim/single male offender homicide rates.

In 2014, Georgia saw 84 women murdered by men in single victim/single male offender homicides. The homicide rate was 1.62 per 100,000 women.

In 2013, Georgia ranked 17th with a homicide rate of 1.15 per 100,000 women.

According to 2016 data from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, there were 666 total murders reported in 2016 — a rate of 6.5 per 100,000 residents.

» RELATED: Atlanta named one of America's top 'murder capitals' 

Of those arrested for the 666 murders, 417 were male and 61 were female.

For Atlanta, according to AJC's Christian Boone, murders have risen in each of the past three years and 2016 was Atlanta's deadliest in nearly a decade.

» RELATED: Tracking crime in Atlanta

In fact, the city recorded 111 overall murders last year — the first time since 2008 that its homicide rate topped the century mark.

Since 2009, however, overall crime in the state capital is down 27 percent.

Key national findings from the report:

• In 2015, 1,686 females were murdered by males in single victim/single offender incidents.
• The average age of female victims: 41 years old
• For homicides in which the victim-offender relation could be identified, 93 percent of female victims were murdered by a male they knew.
• Fourteen times as many women were murdered by a man they knew than by strangers.
• For victims who knew their offenders, 64 percent were either wives or intimate acquaintances of their killers.
• Two-hundred-and-sixty-six women shot and killed by a husband or intimate acquaintance were shot and killed during an argument.
• When it was possible for the weapon to be determined, data found more female homicides were committed with firearms (55 percent) than with any other weapon. Knives/other cutting instruments: 20 percent; Bodily force: 11 percent; Blunt object: 6 percent.
• Of the murders committed with firearms, 69 percent were committed with handguns.
• In 84 percent of incidents where circumstances could be determined, the homicides were not related to other felonies, such as rape or robbery.
• In 2015, black females were murdered by males at a rate more than twice as high as white females (2:43 per 100,000 vs 0.96 per 100,000).

» RELATED: Atlanta Police Department's top 10 'Most Wanted' list 

How Georgia fared in 2015