Honor-based violence
Honor killing is murder. U.S. law already forbids it. There is no national box that marks a killing as “honor.” That is why numbers are messy. A 2014 study near the Justice Department put the U.S. figure in the mid-twenties per year, using European rates as a guide. Later reviews find a smaller set of clearly marked cases. Researchers still say many cases are missed.
Victims are mostly female. In North American case files, a common trigger is the victim being seen as “too Western.” Honor violence is older than Islam. It appears in other communities too. In recent Western case lists, attackers are more often from some Muslim immigrant groups. Both facts can be true. Policy should follow the victims, not a theory that everyone in a group is guilty.
Female genital mutilation
Federal law bans FGM in the United States. That means cutting a girl’s genitals. Many states have their own laws. Coverage is still uneven. Recent studies still find a very large group of women already cut and a smaller group of girls at risk. Practicing groups include Muslims and non-Muslims. The legal answer is the same: the girl is a person, not a cultural display.
Forced and child marriage
A forced marriage is one where there is no real yes — threat, blackmail, or being taken out of the country. Child marriage is still legal in some U.S. states. That is a separate scandal. Front-line surveys of social workers and lawyers have found thousands of suspected forced-marriage cases in immigrant communities of many faiths. Religion does not create an exemption.
Leaving the faith, and the closet
The United States does not make it a crime to leave Islam or to insult a prophet. Some families and congregations do — with shunning, threats, or violence. Ex-Muslims and gay people from strict religious homes are the first to lose if “community peace” is treated as a right that outranks them. Free speech includes hard speech about religion. The right to leave a religion is the core of religious freedom, not an attack on it.
If you are in danger right now, call 911. This website is not a hotline.
- Tahirih Justice Center — forced marriage, FGM, immigrant survivors. 1-866-575-0071
- AHA Foundation — honor violence and FGM in the U.S.
- Unchained At Last — child and forced marriage
Political reading lives on Allies & reading. We keep that list separate from help on purpose.