The violence is not decreasing.
The number of victims of physical and sexual violence increased by 7% in 2023 according to data provided by the Ministry of the Interior in February.
In total, the police and gendarmerie services have identified 444,700 victims of physical violence, of which 96,700 are minors (22%) and 114,100 victims of sexual violence, of which 65,300 are minors (57%).
Domestic violence has exploded since 2016
The number of victims of physical violence increased by 7% in 2023. This evolution, lower than the last two years, matches the rates observed each year between 2016 and 2022. If we observe the evolution over the last eight years , the finding is alarming: + 60% between 2016 and 2023.
This violence increases significantly when it is committed within the family (from 41% in 2016 to 54% in 2023).
This concerns domestic violence in the majority of cases (73% of victims in 2023 and up to 91% for adult victims).
Women are on average three times more victims than men of violence perpetrated within the family and a large proportion of them are between 20 and 39 years old.
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How to explain it?
According to the Ministry of the Interior, these increases are not only linked to delinquency.
They reflect more generally "the evolution of behavior in society", the "liberation of speech driven by the #MeToo movement" as well as "the improvement in reception conditions for victims" who file complaints.
Twice as much sexual violence since 2016
The number of sexual violence also increased by 7% in 2023. This is less than between 2016 and 2022 (+ 13% recorded each year over this period).
However, over the past eight years, the number of victims of sexual violence has doubled, from 51,900 in 2016 to 114,100 in 2023.
In 2023, the vast majority of sexual violence concerns women (85%), whether it takes place within the family sphere or outside and whether the victims are adults or minors.
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Here too we must distinguish between violence committed within and outside the family context.
The number of domestic sexual violence quadrupled between 2016 and 2023. In 80% of cases, sexual violence perpetrated within the family is rape.
Minors remain the main victims of sexual violence
intra-family recorded by the police (64% in 2023 compared to 73% in 2016), despite an increase in the number of adults.
Children aged 5 to 9 are more victims, as are young girls.
Outside of the family environment, young girls aged 15 to 19 are the most victims.
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These figures also result from a context more favorable to welcoming the words of victims, although many things need to be improved.
The vast majority of people denounce old facts.
In 2023, 78% of minor victims of intra-family violence filed a complaint for acts committed more than a year ago.
The average time to file a complaint following sexual violence has increased from more than 2 years (28 months) to more than four years (51 months).
This period has stabilized for minors, like that for adults, increased from 8 to 18 months.
Young men victims of physical violence
Finally, the study reports on physical violence perpetrated outside the family.
In these situations alone, men are twice as concerned (69%) as women.
The majority of plaintiffs were aged 15 to 29.
Nearly a third of them suffered physical violence which caused an ITT of less than or equal to eight days.
Only 7% of violence resulted in an ITT of more than 8 days.
Torture, acts of barbarity and violence followed by mutilation or disability remain very rare (less than 1% of victims, adults and minors).