Black women have made up a third of all female homicide victims in Los Angeles over the past decade.

LOS ANGELES. Black women have made up almost a third of all female homicide victims in Los Angeles over the past decade, despite making up less than 5% of the city’s population, city officials said Friday.

In a 33-page report by the city’s Department of Civil and Human Rights and Justice, called for by Council members Karren Price and Marquis Harris-Dawson following the murder of 16-year-old Tina Tesus in 2022. The teenager’s body was found on the 110 Harbor Highway at the Manchester Avenue exit near South Figueroa Street.

Price and Harris-Dawson are members of the City Committee on Civil Rights, Equity, Aging and Disability.

The report received its first hearing on Friday afternoon during a committee meeting.

“Thionee Theus was viciously stolen from her family, who are still seeking justice for her murder,” Price said in a statement. “Unfortunately, black and Hispanic women in our city are more likely to be abused without paying attention to their pain.”

The report draws the attention it needs to this crisis and calls for further action, Price said.

“While he cannot bring Theoni back, this report will help us protect more women and girls in Los Angeles,” Price said in a statement.

The Los Angeles Department of Civil Rights’ Office of Racial Equality used data from the Los Angeles Police Department and LexisNexis for the report and found that areas of the city with the highest rates of poverty, unemployment, and environmental hazards have higher levels of violence against women.

The report cited five key findings, including that black women accounted for 28.2% of all women reported missing in the city in the past two years and 32.85% of female homicides in the past decade; Hispanic women accounted for approximately 37% of missing women in the past two years and 42.8% of female homicides in the past decade; mainstream media coverage of black and Hispanic female victims is much less frequently covered; the number of black and Hispanic women subjected to violence remains stable and high; and finally, civil society organizations face financial barriers that make it difficult to continue long-term services to victims.

“This report confirms what many of them have known for a long time: Black women and Hispanics in Los Angeles are suffering from a crisis of violence,” said Capri Maddox, executive director of the Los Angeles Department of Civil Rights. “We will not let them suffer in silence. This data is clear evidence of this crisis and strategies to serve our women and girls.”

The report also includes recommendations to the city council that were made with direct input from organizations such as the Jenesse Center, Peace Over Violence, and Women Against Gun Violence. The three recommendations identified investment in prevention programs for women of color, funding organizations to ensure the longevity of “life-saving” programs and resources for affected communities, and improving the LAPD’s data collection systems that do not currently reflect crime trends in Angelenos. with intersecting identities.

The committee voted to continue hearing the report while council members work out legislative action on the matter. The report will receive a second hearing in the coming weeks before it is heard and voted on by the entire city council.

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