Tragic statistics: every three days a woman is killed by a partner in Germany

Created: 2022-11-29 05:03

By: Linus Prien

Nancy Faeser and Lisa Paus present the statistics on intimate partner violence.

© IMAGO/Leon Kuegeler/photothek.de

On average, a woman is killed by an (ex) partner every three days in Germany.

The latest figures on intimate partner violence were presented last week.

Berlin - The head of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Holger Münch, Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser and Federal Minister for Family Affairs Lisa Paus announced the numbers on violent crimes in partnerships in Berlin last Thursday.

On the one hand, it was established that the numbers are slightly declining.

A total of 143,016 cases became known - after around 146,655 offenses in the previous year.

This is a decrease of 2.5 percent.

Violence in partnerships: 80 percent of the victims are women

On the other hand, the number of registered victims of intimate partner violence has increased by 3.4 percent since 2017 and thus within five years.

A total of 143,604 victims were known last year, 80.3 percent of whom were women.

In 78.8 percent of the cases, the suspects were men.

Partner violence includes both psychological and physical acts of violence up to homicides.

According to police crime statistics, a total of 369 victims of attempted and completed murder and manslaughter were recorded in 2021.

The cases are not registered in the statistics according to the time of the crime, but at the time the case was handed over to the public prosecutor's office.

Violence in intimate relationships: 109 of 121 partners killed were women

121 cases involved completed murder and manslaughter, 109 of which were women.

There were also four cases of fatal assault in women and two cases in men.

This means that in 2021 domestic violence led to the deaths of a total of 113 women and 14 men.

The trend in the number of cases registered in this crime area has gone "continuously upwards" in recent years, explained BKA boss Münch.

In addition, many of these acts are still not reported to the police, which is why there is a considerable amount of unreported activity.

Violence in partnerships: Faeser announces persecution "with all severity".

"Every hour, an average of 13 women suffer intimate partner violence," explained Paus.

Almost every day a partner or ex-partner tries to kill a woman.

Almost every third day a woman dies at the hands of her current or former partner.

"It is also a reality that many victims of violence are afraid to get help," explained the family minister.

A “wide, low-threshold support offer” is therefore necessary.

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Faeser also emphasized that violence against women is unacceptable.

"Men who use violence against women, whether psychological or physical, are criminals." They must be prosecuted "with all severity".

Another factor highlighted by Münch was the influence of alcohol: "23 percent of the perpetrators are under the influence of alcohol.

That is a significant risk factor, ”emphasized the BKA boss.