The Federal Association for Perpetrator Work on Domestic Violence (BAG TäHG) has published its nationwide annual statistics for 2024. The publication is the first of its kind and provides important insights for protection against violence.
The survey shows that a total of 5,143 perpetrators were in contact with the umbrella organisation’s member institutions (61% of institutions participated in the survey). In 3,404 cases, counselling was able to commence. When these cases are compared to the figures from the Domestic Violence Situation Report, which registered over 171,000 cases of intimate partner violence in the reported statistics alone for 2024, it becomes clear: only a fraction of perpetrators end up in a perpetrator programme. In addition to absolute case numbers, the statistics include information on access routes, completion of counselling, socio-demographic data of the perpetrators, and information on the social environment.
Linda Conradi, Management of the BAG TäHG:
“In the majority of cases, perpetrators are not held accountable and the root causes of the violence remain unaddressed. Victims continue to be at risk and the potential of perpetrator work as an important instrument for protection against violence is not fully utilised. Our statistics also show that courts rarely make use of their power to issue judicial orders to attend a programme.
We are not only calling for existing legal remedies for ordering perpetrator programmes to be used more extensively. Perpetrator work must be applied as a matter of course in cases of domestic violence. Perpetrators must be linked to programmes quickly and bindingly in order to prevent further violence. In the spirit of the Istanbul Convention, this requires nationwide, well-funded perpetrator work in accordance with the BAG TäHG quality standard.”
