CONCORD — Most victims of domestic violence homicides in New Hampshire didn’t seek help in courts or crisis centers even in cases where their attackers had histories of violence, a report released on Monday shows.

Attorney General Michael Delaney said a decade of statistics show the state has a problem it cannot ignore, with 79 domestic violence homicides tallied since 2001, which is roughly half of all killings during that time period.

But, he said, the data also gives hope that more can be done to stop domestic violence and get victims into crisis counseling before it’s too late.

He noted that 50 percent of homicides in New Hampshire since 2001 were not random but carried out by someone close to the victim.

“They are occurring at an unacceptably high rate, and there are things we can do to stop it,” he said.

The findings of the Domestic Violence Fatality Review Committee analysis from 2001 to 2010 also show:

-- About 92 percent of murder-suicides were domestic violence attacks.

-- Only 4 percent of the victims had a protective order in place when they died.

-- Only 6 percent had contact with one of the state’s 14 crisis centers.

-- The perpetrator had a known history of domestic violence in 53 percent of the cases.

The average age of a domestic violence homicide victim was 38 and the average age of the perpetrator was 41.

Rural counties had some of the highest fatality rates, with Sullivan County having the highest per captia, almost twice the state average, followed by Coos, Grafton and Carroll counties.

Delaney noted that a project in Maryland in which police and other first responders are given screening tools to assess the danger and immediately link victims with crisis counseling has had a phenomenal level of success, and it is one area where the state is now focusing.

“In that case, none have been killed or seriously injured” after coming into contact with crisis centers in Maryland, he said.

There are 14 crisis centers in New Hampshire, including in Berlin, Claremont, Keene, Nashua, Manchester, Portsmouth, Rochester, Laconia, Durham, Conway and Concord.

They served just under 16,500 victims in 2011, said Kim France, executive director of the N.H. Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.

The programs are free, confidential and open 24 hours a day at (866) 644-3574.

A copy of the report will be available online at www.doj.nh.gov.

ptracy@unionleader.com