Perpetrator work is a crucial component of the intervention chain in domestic violence and takes place within cooperative alliances. For effective violence protection, it is therefore essential that both perpetrator work and the other actors within the support system are placed on a secure foundation.
There is an urgent need for action in Berlin. The prevalence figures for domestic violence and femicides are at an alarming high. With 19,213 registered cases of domestic violence, the police crime statistics for 2024 show the highest value in the last ten years.[1] Yet, despite the rising numbers, the counselling landscape in Berlin is facing cuts and precarious working conditions, under which high-quality perpetrator work, in the interest of victim protection, cannot be implemented. The services for perpetrators (and victims) of violence are not proportionate to the need highlighted by the figures. An improvement in provision and an expansion of existing perpetrator work services according to BAG standards in Berlin are indicated to better protect victims and implement violence prevention in line with the requirements of the Istanbul Convention (IC).
Binding funding structures that adequately consider and secure the existing need for perpetrator work according to BAG standards in the long term are indispensable for this. As a federal association, we therefore demand that further cuts be refrained from, or that the cuts already made to perpetrator work services in Berlin be reversed, to prevent further jeopardising the future of counselling centres. In particular, the development of collaborations, which is essential for perpetrator work, requires financial, temporal, and human resources that are secured in the long term. Furthermore, we demand a unified approach across Berlin and clarification of responsibilities for funding perpetrator work at state level.
The funding of perpetrator work according to BAG standards must also be secured in Berlin – as demanded by GREVIO – and furthermore expanded in line with the IC. Due to the welcome amendment of Section 45 of the General Security and Order Act, which allows the disclosure of personal data of suspects in cases of domestic violence without their consent, a significant increase in cases to be managed by perpetrator work agencies is to be expected. This circumstance must also be taken into account when funding perpetrator work. However, additional funding in the area of perpetrator work must not lead to cuts in other areas, e.g., victim support.
Only if violence protection is conceived as a whole and reliably funded can the increasing demand be adequately met and victims protected in the long term. A significant milestone for this is the Violence Assistance Act, passed in February. By 2036, the federal government will contribute 2.6 billion euros to expand the hitherto inadequate violence protection structures. Berlin and all other federal states will thus receive additional funds to address existing gaps and improve violence protection. For this to happen, the money must not replace expenses previously covered by state funds, but must flow additionally into the support system.
By ratifying the IC in 2017, Germany committed, in accordance with Article 16, to “take the necessary legislative or other measures to establish or support programmes aimed at teaching perpetrators of domestic violence to adopt non-violent behaviour in interpersonal relationships in order to prevent further violence and to change violent behavioural patterns.”[2] Based on the preamble of the IC, which emphasises the structural nature of gender-based violence, and the resulting placement of perpetrator work in the prevention chapter, it becomes clear: in particular, addressing structural aspects of violence in intimate relationships and dealing with gender roles must play a central role in perpetrator work programmes. Full responsibility for acts of violence and learning non-violent conflict competence must be at the heart of these programmes.
To ensure the quality of perpetrator work in this regard, the Federal Association for Perpetrator Work in Domestic Violence (BAG TäHG) e.V., together with women’s associations and the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, has developed a working standard.[3] This defines crucial framework conditions that are essential for sustainable behavioural change and forms the basis of our members’ work. The standard makes statements on the structure and content of the perpetrator programme, as well as on personnel and the cooperation with other institutions, which is indispensable for perpetrator work. Work according to BAG standards differs in content, structure, and duration from other forms of intervention, such as anti-violence training, which cannot meet the requirements of Article 16 of the IC. In 2022, the GREVIO monitoring body for the implementation of the IC called on Germany to make further efforts to “ensure nationwide compliance with recognised standards by all perpetrator programmes operating in Germany.”[4] This also means equipping counselling centres with sufficient financial resources to be able to offer perpetrator work according to standard and to improve violence protection in Germany.
The expansion of the support system, especially for particularly vulnerable groups, and the safeguarding of support structures are indispensable. Violence protection costs money and saves lives!
About us:
The Federal Association for Perpetrator Work in Domestic Violence (BAG TäHG) e.V. is the pro-feminist umbrella organisation for perpetrator work institutions in Germany and is involved in cooperative alliances against domestic violence/intimate partner violence. The core task of BAG TäHG as an umbrella organisation is to promote high-quality perpetrator work in Germany that is geared towards gender equality policy, to advance nationwide provision of perpetrator work, and to politically advocate for adequate financial resources for perpetrator work. The member institutions of BAG TäHG make an important contribution to sustainably and long-term ending violence in partnerships, violence in families, and gender-specific violence directed against women and TIN* persons.
[1] https://www.berlin.de/polizei/verschiedenes/polizeiliche-kriminalstatistik/, (p. 4; last accessed: 09.07.2025).
[2] https://rm.coe.int/1680462535 (p. 10; last accessed: 09.07.2025).
[3] https://www.bmfsfj.de/resource/blob/95364/b8e655a98504ca7aa3e3cc4e1b7e16c0/standards-taeterarbeit-haeusliche-gewalt-data.pdf (last accessed: 02.07.2025).
[4] https://www.bmfsfj.de/resource/blob/202386/3699c9bad150e4c4ff78ef54665a85c2/grevio-evaluierungsbericht-istanbul-konvention-2022-data.pdf (last accessed: 02.07.2025).
