COLUMBIA- It's her mother's hand that Barbara Johnson remembers.

Her mother's hand clawing at a window, trying to get out of the house, away from an abusive husband.

"My mother lost her life to domestic violence," Ms. Johnson said. "She was not shot. She was not stabbed. She was not strangled. ... She died of loss of hope and overwhelming fear." Ms. Johnson said she realized early on that she couldn't save her mother from a terrifying marriage that ultimately lasted 47 years.

So Ms. Johnson learned how to save herself. Now - happily married for 50 years - she's trying to help others do the same.

"We must be vigilant. We must be nonjudgmental toward these families, and we must be loving," she said.

Ms. Johnson spoke at the state Capitol on Monday at the annual Silent Witness ceremony, which honors those who died the previous year from domestic violence.

Last year, 32 names were read. This year, it was 50.

"It's very upsetting," said Laura Hudson, the executive director of the S.C. Crime Victims Council. "You get up every third Thursday and you say, 'What am I doing? Are we making any progress?'"

"Do I think we're making progress? Yes," Ms. Hudson said. "Do we have a long, long way to go? Oh, boy. Yes."

South Carolina ranks seventh in the nation in the number of women killed by men in domestic-violence incidents, according to the Violence Policy Center. That's on top of a recent report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation that concluded South Carolina has the highest rate of violent crime of any of the states, coming in only behind Washington, D.C.

"This question of gun availability, this question of 'Are we just a violent community?'" Ms. Hudson said. "Are we unique in South Carolina because of the rural background with the dominant male - 'My house, my truck, my dog, my wife, my child?'

"I don't have the answer to that," she said.

Lawmakers and law enforcement aren't ignoring the problem. In recent years, lawmakers have voted, for example, to require domestic violence education for certain judges.

In 2006, the Legislature also committed $2.2 million to fund criminal domestic violence prosecutors in every county to ensure victims are adequately represented and don't get scared out of pursuing the case.

Because it encompasses five counties, the 14th Judicial Circuit was awarded permission to move its criminal domestic violence cases out of magistrate court so they could be handled in the same venue as murders and robbery and so prosecutors could be assigned to oversee the cases.

The circuit also has emphasized getting victim advocates involved in the beginning of the process, Solicitor Duffie Stone said.

He said that, under the new system, 237 defendants have been prosecuted in Beaufort County alone. It's too soon to be able to determine recidivism rates, Mr. Stone said.

But victims have been less likely to dismiss their claims, he said.

"It (the new system) gives them assurance that something will be done and that they're protected," he said.

A legislative study committee dedicated to the issue, which was set up to convene for only a couple of years to make recommendations for addressing domestic violence, hopes to continue meeting, with the goal of keeping attention on the issue.

Last session, lawmakers passed the "Uniform Interstate Enforcement of Domestic-Violence Protection Orders Act," intended to help South Carolina honor domestic-violence protection orders made in other states.

Advocates say it's too early to determine the effectiveness of the new policies.

Given the prevalence of domestic violence, Ms. Hudson said, "We're doing something wrong. ... So all I know to do is to keep trying to fix the system from every level."

Reach Kirsten Singleton at 803-414-6611 or kirsten.singleton@morris.com