The Federal Association for Work with Perpetrators of Domestic Violence (BAG TäHG) has published its nationwide annual statistics for 2025. With this publication, the umbrella organisation of 86 perpetrator work facilities with 118 counselling locations provides important insights for protection against violence and into the work with individuals who use violence. 63 per cent of the counselling centres affiliated with the BAG TäHG participated in the survey.
The results show: violence prevention in the form of standardised perpetrator work remains the exception in Germany. The facilities were in contact with a total of 5,521 individuals who use violence in 2025 (+378 cases compared to the previous year). Counselling was initiated in 64% of cases. This stands in contrast to 138,543 suspects of domestic abuse in partner relationships recorded in the police crime statistics alone. The LeSuBiA dark figure study showed at the beginning of the year that the willingness to report violence in partner relationships is below 5%.
These figures make it clear: only a small proportion of individuals who use violence address their own violent actions in specialised programmes. Conversely, this means that in the majority of cases, there is neither an acceptance of responsibility by the perpetrators nor a sustainable processing of the underlying causes. Affected persons remain at risk and the potential of perpetrator work remains untapped. The reasons for this: a lack of capacity, no nationwide availability, and no standardised referral practice into perpetrator programmes.
In addition to the general case numbers, the annual statistics collected further information on the counselling setting as well as socio-demographic data on the individuals who use violence, including:
- Access routes: In 36% of cases, individuals came to the counselling centres as so-called self-referrals. 24% of individuals reached the perpetrator work facilities via the Youth Welfare Office / youth services. Public prosecutors (7%), the police (6%), criminal courts (6%), family courts (5%), and social services of the judiciary (4%) were also named as access routes.
- Forms of violence: In 75% of cases, physical violence was used; psychological violence was present almost as frequently. Other forms of violence used were digital, economic, and sexualised violence, as well as stalking.
- Completions: 56% of individuals who use violence completed the programme in 2025 (21%) or were still in the programme on the reporting date (35%). 18% of clients dropped out of the programme in 2025. In 4% of cases, individuals were excluded from the programme. 209 people (6%) could be referred to another facility after starting counselling. In 7% of cases, individuals were not admitted to the programme and not referred elsewhere (compared to 4% in the previous year). 7% did not complete the programme for other reasons.
- Gender: 91% of the people counselled in 2025 were men. In 7% of cases, they were women who use violence. A total of 14 people (0.3%) had a different gender identity. The gender distribution is consistent with the results from the previous year.
- Age: 41% of the individuals who use violence in our facilities were between 31 and 40 years old. Also frequently represented were people between 41 and 50 (24%) and between 20 and 30 (20%). 8% were 51 to 60 years old. In 2% of cases, the individuals were over 60, and in 1% of cases, they were under 20 years old.
- Employment status: Just under two-thirds of the people counselled in our facilities worked as employees. 6% were self-employed. 4% were in school, vocational training, or university. 2% were retired or on a pension. 19% were unemployed.
- Relationship type: In 66% of cases, the victim and the person using violence lived in a partner relationship or marriage. 19% of the individuals were separated or divorced at the time of the offence(s), while 6% were in a phase of separation or divorce. A different relationship status existed in 2% of cases.
- Residence: Domestic violence can also occur when the victim and the person using violence do not live together in a domestic community. In 33% of cases, there was no shared residence. In 60% of cases, a shared residence was stated.
- Children: The results show that in three out of four cases, children in the social environment of the person using violence were (also) affected by the violence (74%). Most frequently, one child (24%) or two children (28%) were reported. Summing up all entries shows that at least 5,701 children lived in the environment of the individuals who use violence.
Linda Conradi, Management of the BAG TäHG:
“Perpetrator work is a central instrument for ending violence and is named as a prevention measure to be implemented in Article 16 of the Istanbul Convention. Our statistics provide insights into the important work of perpetrator work practice and highlight the need to further expand and differentiate perpetrator work.
The fact that the Federal Ministry of Justice is creating additional legal frameworks for the ordering of perpetrator work is an important step in the right direction. However, this requires a counselling landscape that can also implement the new legal regulations.
This requires sustainable public funding for perpetrator work and the nationwide, barrier-free provision of services. We are currently still miles away from that. If we take the protection of victims seriously, the federal, state, and local governments must finally take action and expand violence prevention according to the recommendations of the needs analysis for the prevention of gender-based and domestic violence published in 2025.”
