Victims of gender violence increase by more than 10% in 2022: half a thousand a day

The number of victims of gender violence, as well as the complaints filed, increased again in 2022, -10.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
10 March 2023 Friday 14:00
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Victims of gender violence increase by more than 10% in 2022: half a thousand a day

The number of victims of gender violence, as well as the complaints filed, increased again in 2022, -10.7% and 11.8% respectively- and the number of minors prosecuted for this type of crime grew by 18, 67%, according to data from the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ).

These are the figures from the Observatory against Domestic and Gender Violence that were released this Friday and that reflect that during the past year male violence left a daily average of almost half a thousand victims (483) and complaints (499).

During the past year, the judicial bodies agreed on seven out of ten protection orders requested, up to 32,842, 5.2% more than in 2021, and issued 57,059 sentences, 5% more. 77.45% of these resolutions were condemnatory, the highest annual percentage in the historical series.

The measures to suspend the visiting regime maintain their upward trend, so that the judicial bodies adopted 4,100 measures of this type, 104% more than in 2021.

Complaints increased by 11.8% (to 182,073) and also the victims, which rose by 10.7% to 176,380, and two out of three (65.65%) were Spanish. For its part, the rate of victims per 10,000 women was 72.9 throughout Spain, almost seven points higher than in 2021.

Above the average were the Balearic Islands (110.3); Murcia (103.4); Valencian Community (95.6); Canary Islands (88.2); Andalusia (86.3) and Madrid (75.8), while the lowest rates occurred in Castilla y León (46.8); Galicia (49.6); Basque Country (53.5); La Rioja (53.6) and Asturias (53.9).

Seven out of ten complaints were filed by the victims themselves, while those filed by the victim's entourage were 1.83%; those derived from police reports 14.9%; those originated by reports of injuries, 7.8% and those presented by third parties, 3.9%. Almost 10% of the victims gave up testifying against their attacker, a percentage very similar to that of 2021.

The judicial bodies agreed on a total of 60,984 criminal protection measures for victims (women and minors). The most frequent were restraining orders (65.70% of the total) and the prohibition of communication (65.92%).

Among the civil precautionary measures, the most numerous were those related to the provision of food (20.25% of the total) and with the attribution of housing (15.61%), with percentages similar to 2021.

The measures to suspend the visiting regime, however, increased by 104% compared to 2021 as a result of the application by the judicial bodies of the reform of article 544 ter of the Criminal Procedure Law.

The suspension of guard and custody also increased: the 2,335 measures of this type represent 8% of the total and the courts for violence against women also adopted 178 specific measures for the protection of minors to avoid danger and in 409 cases they suspended the homeland power.

The CGPJ points out, however, that due to the strike by lawyers from the Administration of Justice, the data is provisional since they have had to estimate those corresponding to 4 courts from which no response has been obtained and 10 are under review of errors. .

For the president of the Observatory, Ángeles Carmona, the significant increase in both the number of victims and complaints is "absolutely unaffordable" and shows that violence against women is still very present in our society.

In spite of everything, Carmona considers that the data shows that women are increasingly turning to justice, and calls for maintaining trust in the institutions, of which he has highlighted their high specialization, as evidenced by the high percentage of convictions.

The president of the Observatory also highlights the percentage of protection orders agreed, as well as the significant increase in the suspension of the visiting regime and custody. These are data that -in her opinion- deserve a very positive assessment because they reveal greater protection for women and also for boys and girls who are victims of gender violence.