Why are Black women more likely to be murdered? Wisconsin bill would create task force.

By Sarah Lehr, WPR

Similar proposals have stalled in recent legislative sessions

In Wisconsin, Black women and girls face a disproportionate likelihood of being murdered.

But efforts to create a task force that would address that disparity have stalled for years.

On Friday, state Rep. Sheila Stubbs, D-Madison, announced she’s reintroducing a bill to create a Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls Task Force within Wisconsin’s Department of Justice.

Stubbs said the 17-member task force would focus on data collection and helping victims and their communities. It would examine the reasons behind the violence targeting Black women and girls, and make recommendations for reducing that violence, according to a draft bill released Friday.

The bill would appropriate $80,200 in the next fiscal year for one full time DOJ staff member who would be responsible for overseeing the initiative.

“Today, we say no more to violence facing African American women and girls,” Stubbs said. “We say no more to the disappearance of our loved ones. We say no more to the lack of resources, the lack of awareness, the lack of support for the issues that have impacted so many Wisconsinites.”

A study published in the Lancet last year found that, across the country, Black women are more likely than white women to be murdered. That pattern is longstanding and has been “virtually unchanged since 1999,” the study’s authors noted.

Keep reading to learn about the differences in Wisconsin and who supports this task force.

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