Domestic Violence: First nationwide statistics on perpetrator work published
For the first time, nationwide statistics on perpetrator work are available for Germany. The figures were published by the Federal Association for Perpetrator Work in Domestic Violence (BAG TäHG). By establishing federal statistics, the umbrella organisation is making an important contribution to the implementation of the Istanbul Convention and the development of targeted measures against domestic violence.
Over 50 per cent of the 89 counselling centres affiliated with the BAG TäHG participated in the first statistical survey for the 2023 calendar year.[1] The facilities provided figures on various indicators. The survey yielded the following results, among others:
- Almost 92 per cent of the people counselled were men. The proportion of female perpetrators counselled in the facilities was 8 per cent.
- Approx. 41 per cent of clients were between 31 and 40 years old, followed by the age groups 41–50 years (25.4 per cent) and 21–30 years (20.2 per cent).
- 65.4 per cent of the perpetrators lived with the victim, while 35.6 per cent had a different place of residence.
- 65.7 per cent had contact with or lived together with one or more children. In these cases, at least 3,541 children were consequently (also) affected by the violence.
- 65.9 per cent of the individuals were still in counselling at the end of the year or had completed the perpetrator programme. 34.1 per cent did not complete the counselling.
The full statistics are published in the BAG TäHG annual report.
Linda Conradi, Management of the BAG TäHG:
“The figures provide us with important insights for the further development of protection against violence and equality-oriented perpetrator work. We hope that we can further expand and consolidate the statistics in the coming years. At the same time, we can already see that only a fraction of perpetrators reach our perpetrator work facilities. This means that in most cases, perpetrators are not held accountable, the causes of violence remain unaddressed, and those affected remain at risk. We therefore call for equality-oriented perpetrator work to be recognised as sustainable protection for victims and to be more strongly integrated into the violence protection system. We need nationwide and well-funded perpetrator work to address the causes of violence and overcome domestic violence.”
[1] Not all facilities were able to complete the statistics in full. Therefore, the figures are partly based on different population sizes. A detailed list of the reference values can be found in the 2023 annual report.
