There is a crisis regarding missing victims of domestic violence and we must end it

Black women particularly face disproportionately high rates of intimate partner violence. A 2020 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that greater than 45% of Black women have experienced some form of physical violence, sexual violence, or harassment from intimate partner for all times. For Latinas, the figure is 37.1%, and indigenous women experience an excellent higher rate of violence at 55.5%. Moreover, black women remain in abusive relationships 3 times more likely be murdered by their partner than white women.

Domestic violence is greater than a personal issue; it’s a public health crisis that, for many ladies of color, could spell their disappearance.

In cases of domestic violence, victims are sometimes isolated from their support networks, which may make it easier for them to vanish without causing immediate concern.

Therefore, understanding the connection between domestic violence and the missing individuals crisis is essential to effectively address each issues.

Underreporting and media neglect

The invisibility of black people within the media is not a latest phenomenon, but it is particularly acute in cases of missing individuals.

When a white woman goes missing, her case is more more likely to receive widespread media coverage, a phenomenon generally known as “missing white woman syndrome.” Meanwhile, the disappearances of Black and Brown women are sometimes missed, resulting in discrepancies in how these cases are handled and the quantity of attention they receive.

Take Gabby Petito, for instance – a 23-year-old white woman who was abducted and tragically murdered by her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, in 2021. Her case received wide coverage within the national media. Photos and videos of her face circulated across social media platforms and appeared in 24-hour news cycles, leading thousands and thousands of people across the country to follow updates from law enforcement investigating her disappearance.

When in comparison with Akia Eggleston – a young black woman from Baltimore who disappeared in 2017 – there is a clear and disturbing discrepancy. The 22-year-old was eight months pregnant when she disappeared shortly before her baby shower. Her body and the stays of her unborn child haven’t yet been found. This is a difficulty of incredible importance and seriousness – enough to realize national media attention. However, it didn’t even attract the eye of the local media.

However, BAMFI’s intervention ensured that Eggleston’s case wouldn’t be missed. Through continued work with the Baltimore community, law enforcement and national media, visibility and awareness of Eggleston’s disappearance has increased dramatically. But it still wasn’t enough to bring her home. Eggleston’s case got here to a tragic end in 2023 when her boyfriend, Michael Robertson, was found guilty of murdering her and her unborn son.

Both the Petito and Eggleston cases are only two examples that display the wide disparity in urgency and treatment from the media and law enforcement. It’s an imbalance that has real-world consequences. Black people make up almost 40% of all missing individuals cases within the United States, despite making up only 13% of the population.

Petito’s parents used their platform to spotlight this disparity. They advocated for fair and equitable media coverage of issues affecting marginalized communities, emphasizing that each missing person deserves equal media visibility, regardless of skin color or origin.

When people of color are neglected within the media, resources to search out them grow to be limited as a result.

The need for systemic changes in law enforcement

Law enforcement must take domestic violence seriously, especially when it involves women of color.

2020 study conducted by the corporate National Library of Medicine shows that Black and Latina women who had experienced intimate partner violence or sexual violence were two to 3 times more more likely to experience a dismissive response or mistreatment from law enforcement when reporting harassment.

In many cases, law enforcement has been slower to reply to reports of missing black women and children, labeling them as “runaways” or “engaged in criminal activity.” This contributes to a cycle of neglect and invisibility that puts these women at greater risk of harm.

Authorities should investigate these cases with the identical urgency as they’d anyone else, and training is crucial to strengthen appropriate responses and ensure the protection of all victims.

Adopting mandatory approaches comparable to early intervention and risk assessment might help police discover potential escalations in domestic violence cases before they escalate into potential abductions and murders.

Furthermore, domestic violence calls to the police often only lead to a police report or arrest, but officers should take the time and opportunity to point victims to community resources and support systems.

While nonprofits and domestic violence shelters do essential work, they are sometimes underfunded and overburdened. More funding must be allocated to those organizations to assist them provide the services that victims of violence have to escape abusive relationships and stay secure.

At the middle of each domestic violence and missing individuals crises are survivors – victims of color who’ve been failed by the systems that were alleged to protect them. If we take the problem of missing Black people seriously, we must also take domestic violence seriously. It is not enough to report statistics; we must first address the basis causes and structural inequalities that leave victims vulnerable.

To break the cycle of violence and disappearances, we must center the voices of survivors and spend money on the communities most affected by these issues. In this fashion, we can begin to end domestic violence and the missing individuals crisis and work towards a future during which every man, woman and child, regardless of race or origin, can live free from violence and fear.