The discourse according to which the outbreak of violence is only a
“feeling”
does not stand up to the test of the onslaught of news items but also of figures.
A final report from the ministerial statistical service for internal security, delivered this Thursday, attests to this: in 2023, the police and gendarmerie services recorded, in terms of crimes and misdemeanors, no less than 444,700 victims of physical violence.
That’s almost one person affected in their flesh every minute in France!
If the lights once again turn red with a new increase of 7% compared to 2023, the number of victims of attacks continues to soar to the point of making one dizzy.
It seems that the various government plans are ineffective and that the wishful thinking of
“the right to a peaceful life”
defended by Emmanuel Macron in
Le Figaro
in April 2021 has fizzled out.
In eight years, the cohort of people attacked has increased by 60%, with nearly 230,000 more victims recorded compared to 2016.
The Beauvau statisticians observe that, now, more than half of this physical violence is perpetrated within the family itself, mainly within the marital context in 73% of cases.
“Their share increased from 41% in 2016 to 54% in 2023
,” note the authors of the report who, once again, attribute this trend to an easier propensity for victims to come and file a complaint.
“Following the Grenelle on domestic violence, the context of freedom of speech driven by the #Me Too movement and recent legislative developments concerning the protection of minors against sexual violence, these different elements are likely to have a more particular impact on the number of victims registered for domestic or sexual violence
,” specify the authors of the study.
Sexual violence has doubled
In this dark picture, no less than 114,100 people who had suffered sexual violence visited a police station or gendarmerie brigade to file a complaint last year.
A figure that has more than doubled in eight years.
And the closed doors of the home do not explain such a figure.
“Between 2016 and 2023, more than three quarters of sexual violence are committed outside the family sphere and more than half of these victims are minors at the time of the events (57%)
,” note internal security statisticians.
“One of the factors increasing the number of victims of sexual violence recorded in a given year is the increasing share of old facts (crimes or misdemeanors) denounced by the victims”
, deciphers the study which specifies in particular that
“the average time to bring complaint following sexual violence, went from 28 to 51 months for minors and from 8 to 18 months for adults
.
In 2023, it appears that the targets of attacks are
“slightly more often women”
, since they represent 55% of victims.
This proportion explodes when the acts are committed within the home:
“Women are three times more victims than men of violence perpetrated within the family (52 victims per 10,000 inhabitants compared to 18 victims per 10,000 inhabitants)
,” notes Beauvau analysts who add that
“the rates of female victims per capita increase very quickly with age, with a maximum between 20 and 39 years (and in particular a peak at 128 victims per 10,000 inhabitants between 25 and 29 years)”
.
These rates are then 4 to 8 times higher than male rates.
Men more exposed outside the family sphere
Conversely, the study always confirms, the male population is much more often the victim of attacks as soon as they leave the family sphere.
“The rates of male victims per capita are very low before the age of ten and increase very quickly thereafter, with a maximum between 15 and 29 years of age”
before a much more rapid decline in cases from the age of 50.
Overall, the study finally notes that a little more than three-quarters of major victims of sexual assault were physically attacked, or nearly 37,500 victims last year, including 43% for rape or attempted rape.
The polar opposite of a candid reading of French crime, this worrying panorama comes at a time when our compatriots are showing distrust towards the government.
As shown by the latest security barometer of the French Fiducial/Odoxa for Le Figaro published last January, on average six out of ten still feel unsafe in the country.