Regretfully, America witnessed several high-profile instances of domestic violence that resulted in femicide this month. Justin Fairfax, former lieutenant governor of Virginia, killed his wife Cerina, and later turned the gun on himself. In Shreveport, Shamar Elkins, a former Army National Guardsman, fatally shot eight children, and critically wounded his girlfriend as well as his wife. Next, Barbara Deer was killed in a murder suicide by her son Kalab in North Lawndale, on the west side of Chicago. And Pastor Tammy McCollum was found dead in her Charlotte, NC, home, fatally shot by her husband Eddie McCollum on Easter Sunday.
Feminist scholarship helps to contextualize the importance of protecting women, who are disproportionately the victims of domestic violence. Indeed, the World Health Organization lists domestic violence, often perpetrated by an intimate partner, as a predominant global problem for women and girls. Indeed, the U.N. reports that 55% of femicides are committed by intimate partners – and that more than five women or girls are killed by someone in their family every hour.
As the murders of Cerina Fairfax and Tammy McCollum, as well as the shooting of Shaneiqua Elkins show, men who once professed love for a partner can soon turn on them. Here are three things the research tells us about femicide and domestic violence.
1. Domestic violence is patterned, not random, and rooted in power and control
Feminist research shows that domestic abuse is not primarily about isolated incidents of anger. Instead, it often involves coercive control, and a sustained pattern of domination that includes surveillance, intimidation, economic restriction, and psychological abuse. This analytical approach reframes domestic violence as a structural issue tied to gender inequality, rather than a series of discrete “incidents.”
Domestic violence is not only about individual behavior, the research suggests. It is shaped by larger systems like capitalism, neoliberalism, and colonialism, all of which operate within a patriarchal gender order. Capitalism, for instance, affects people’s economic stability. When someone depends financially on a partner, it can be harder to leave an abusive relationship. Limited access to housing, childcare, and stable jobs makes this type of change even more difficult.
Neoliberalism, meanwhile, favors less government oversight and fewer social safety nets. Governments increasingly leave survivors responsible for their own safety. People often must navigate limited and complex legal and financial assistance systems on their own.This can make safety feel like a personal burden rather than a shared civic responsibility.
Colonialism – the subjugation of one people to another – has also shaped patterns of violence. For centuries, colonialism has created racial hierarchies and normalized control over certain groups. In modern-day America, Indigenous, Black, and migrant communities are especially affected.
All of these histories continue to influence how institutions respond today. Survivors may face bias, distrust, or lack of care from systems designed to help them, for example. And all of these forces work together to reinforce male dominance and control. Domestic violence persists not just because of individuals, but because of the systems that enable it.
2. Separation is a high-risk period for lethal violence
Empirical studies consistently find that the risk of femicide increases when a survivor attempts to leave an abusive partner. The research demonstrates that factors such as prior threats with weapons, strangulation, and controlling behaviors significantly elevate lethality risk. Scholarship by feminist researchers suggests that policies and interventions must account for this heightened danger during separation – and not assume that leaving automatically ensures safety.
Moreover, the research suggests that the “one size fits all” intervention programs – especially those that prioritize counseling, restraining, and punishing the abusers – are often inflexible and are not a successful strategy for keeping women safe. Research demonstrates that keeping women safe requires policies that provide victims with broad forms of social support and help them develop advocacy skillsets.
3. Black women, Indigenous women, and other marginalized groups face higher risk
Legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw’s feminist scholarship shows that domestic violence and femicide are unevenly experienced across race, class, immigration status, sexuality, and disability. People with intersectional identities – Black women, Indigenous women, and other marginalized groups – often face higher rates and more severe violence. These groups are also more likely to experience barriers to protection such as mistrust of law enforcement, limited access to resources, or systemic bias. Intersectional analysis reveals that effective responses to violence are tailored, not a one-size-fits-all approach.
The women highlighted in the beginning of this post are just some of the Black women killed by family members in April 2026. Research shows that Black women experience high rates of intimate partner violence, including physical assault, stalking, and sexual violence, over the course of their lifetimes. Compared to white women, they are approximately 2.5 times more likely to be killed by a male intimate partner.
To address this risk, we could focus on identifying interlocking social identities at the individual level, such as race, class, and gender. Or we could examine axes of structural inequality at the institutional level, such as racism, sexism, and classism. But scholars increasingly argue it’s essential to understand how these forces operate together to shape the social structures that sustain the matrix of domination: how the intersecting systems of power, privilege and oppression further marginalize individuals and reinforce existing hierarchies. This approach requires identifying the mechanisms through which institutions perpetuate these social identities and inequalities. Scholars show that such an analysis reveals the interconnected barriers, risks, and vulnerabilities many marginalized survivors face. In turn, this perspective can inform the development of systems that address abuse without reproducing inequality.
Femicide is preventable
Domestic violence is a serious and widespread problem, in America and elsewhere. The tragedies witnessed this month are not random. Because domestic violence is about power and control, experts argue that paying attention to the larger systems that shape societal inequalities is essential in the provision of support to victims.
The most important takeaway is that domestic violence is preventable. These insights make clear that domestic violence is not an unpredictable tragedy. Rather, it is a patterned and preventable form of harm that reflects deeper inequalities within our social and political systems. What happened to Cerina Fairfax, Tammy McCollum, Barbara Deer, and Shaneiqua Elkins, along with a host of other women, could have been prevented.
Feminist scholarship not only helps us to understand these strategies. This work can offer a roadmap for building systems that value women’s lives, dignity, and safety in meaningful and lasting ways.
Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or Text “START” to 88788
Nadia E. Brown is a professor of government and the director of the Women’s and Gender Studies program at Georgetown University. She is the author of Sisters in the Statehouse (Oxford University Press, 2014) and co-author of Sister Style (Oxford University Press, 2021) with Danielle Lemi.
