The Gender violence experienced a new year-on-year increase during the second quarter of the year: the number of victims increased by 5.6% compared to the same period in 2022 and the number of complaints increased by 5.4%. The growth also occurred compared to the first three months of the year: with 4.2% more victims and 4.1% more complaints filed, according to the quarterly report of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) released this Friday.
These data indicate that more and more abused people dare to report their aggressor. Despite this, this year it is on track to be among the most disastrousgiven that 51 women have died in sexist crimes, the worst record so far this year since 2010. After three years in which a certain hope was glimpsed because the murders were decreasing, 2023 has shown that the problem continues and at the moment there is already one more victim than in all of 2022. Of those 51 women, only 11 had filed a complaint against their aggressor (21%), a percentage of underreporting similar to that of previous years.
The crimes show a “situation of extreme risk” for many women
Ángeles Carmona, president of the CGPJ Observatory
Given this, the president of the Observatory against Domestic and Gender Violence of the CGPJ, Angeles Carmonataking advantage of the publication of the data corresponding to the second quarter to express its concern about the increase in murders and alert “of the situation of extreme risk for many women that these crimes demonstrate.” Likewise, he has called on institutions to “extremely monitor” and on society to “collaborate decisively in the prevention of these very serious events.”
The environment of the victims
In this regard, the data published this Friday by the CGPJ once again show that there are very few complaints at the police station or in court filed by the around of the victims. In the second quarter the courts received 48,227 complaints. Of them, 70.8% were filed by the attacked themselves, while only 891 complaints, 1.8%, were filed by the victim’s entourage, a percentage similar to that of previous records.
Given this, Carmona has highlighted the importance of citizens assuming and becoming aware of this structural problem. “In the hands of each of us can be the life of a victim of gender violence and that of their daughters and sons. In most of the murders that we sadly have to regret, there were no prior complaints & rdquor ;, she recalled.
The data also indicate that from April to June, complaints arising from police reports and those originating from injurieswhich represented 15.7% and 8.19%, respectively, and, finally, those presented by third parties (1,712) represented 3.55% of the total.
Protective orders
The increase in complaints translates into an increase in the number of victims (47,063, 5.6% more than a year ago). Of them, 65% have nationality Spanish and 34% foreign. The rate of victims per 10,000, therefore, once again experienced a year-on-year increase, with the national average standing at 19.2 compared to 18.4 a year ago and 16.6 in the first quarter of 2021.
Related news
Likewise, a total of 12,763 were requested from the judicial bodies. protection orders, 2% more than a year ago. Seven out of ten, 69.8%, were granted, most of them restraining orders or prohibition of communication.
The total number of sentences handed down in the quarter was very similar to that of a year ago, standing at 15,393. Of them, 11,427 (80%) were convictions and 2,966 (19%) were acquittals.