Domestic violence: Underreporting study to bring truth to light

Domestic Violence
Dark figure study should bring truth to light

Since the Corona Pandemic, the number of victims of domestic violence has been increasing continuously. More victims were registered last year than in 2021. This emerges from a report, as the “Welt am Sonntag” writes, citing the interior ministries and criminal investigation departments of the 16 federal states. According to this, 179,179 victims were registered nationwide by the police. This corresponds to an increase of 9.3 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year.

In most cases, the perpetrators are partners, ex-partners and family members, and the victims are women in two thirds of the cases. However, the number of unreported cases is much higher, because many of those affected do not dare to report their tormentors. Domestic violence includes murder, manslaughter, assault, rape and deprivation of liberty.

High increase in violent crimes in recent years

The Saarland recorded the strongest increase compared to the previous year with 19.7 percent (3178 victims). Followed by Thuringia with 18.1 percent (3812 victims) and Baden-Württemberg (13.1 percent, 14,969 victims). A total of 15 federal states reported significantly more victims. Only in Bremen did the number drop (13.6 percent, 2,615 victims). The most populous federal state, North Rhine-Westphalia, reported 37,141 victims (8.5 percent), reports “Welt am Sonntag” further, meaning that the number of victims has risen by 26.2 percent in a five-year comparison.

The fuse has shortened for many people and the general tone has become harsher. The social climate has changed. (…) More violence has set in at home.

Explains NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU).

BKA President Holger Münch, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) and Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens) will present the paper on July 3 in Berlin. In addition, they are currently having a large “dark field study” carried out.

Domestic violence often happens covertly, in the private sphere. Feelings of shame and guilt on the part of those affected often mean that the crimes remain in the dark and are rarely reported to the police. This dark field is much larger than the bright field.

According to the Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth Lisa Paus (Greens). She is planning a state “coordination office” that will combat domestic violence across departments.

Pandemic as an accelerator for violence

The Corona years have drawn more attention to the topic of domestic violence. The number of acts of violence has increased and continues to do so. “The financial and health worries, the lack of space, the uncertainty about the future have acted as a kind of fire accelerator for violence in partnership and family,” said the President of the German Caritas Association, Eva Maria Welskop-Deffaa. With the end of the pandemic, this cannot simply be reversed: “Patterns of conflict have emerged that continue to have a painful effect.” At the same time, however, awareness of such acts of violence has changed, so that after the uncertain pandemic years, more and more women dare to report cases of violence,” says Maria Loheide, Social Policy Director at Diakonie.

Statistically, it takes women seven tries…

… to finally separate from her violent partner. And even then they are often not safe, because perpetrators often try everything to destroy, stalk and threaten those affected. There are far too few places of refuge across Germany. Around 400 women’s shelters and more than 40 shelters or refugee apartments with more than 6,000 places are available to women affected by violence and their children. But the contact points are heavily overloaded. Be used loudly Diaconia estimates around 21,000 places. The current one also shows how acute the emergency is corrective study: The occupancy rate of the women’s shelters is 83 percent; last year, admission was no longer possible on 303 out of 365 days.

Sources: Welt.de, bmfsfj.de

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