National Police and Guardia Civil process over 64,000 reports of gender-based violence offences to November 2019, up 11.2% on same period last year

69,000 reports were filed with the two forces in 2018.

64% of all the police reports received so far in 2019 were filed with the National Police, which is responsible for provincial capitals and major population centres, where victims generally have more resources and enjoy greater anonymity, circumstances that encourage people to file such reports.

The remaining 36% of reports were filed in the rest of the country, where the Guardia Civil handles them. Less densely populated areas and the rural environment are places where victims have fewer resources and less anonymity, which makes reporting this kind of offence more difficult and they are often suffered by victims for years.

Active cases

To 30 October 2019, police officers were looking into a total of 60,000 ongoing cases. These cases are split between the National Police (25,000) and the Guardia Civil (24,000), as well as the Provincial Police Force of Navarre and the Local Police Forces from almost 400 local council authorities monitored by the VioGén System of the State Secretariat of Security.

In this regard, the Ministry of Home Affairs has prioritised progress on measures to facilitate filing a police report (either by the victim or the people close to them) and to make it an option in all cases of gender-based violence under the same conditions and regardless of the circumstances.

New risk assessment protocol

To ensure that police intervention can be as effective as possible, the Ministry of Home Affairs is following the guidelines set by the State Pact against Gender-based Violence to foster improvements throughout 2019 to both the "Gender-based violence police risk assessment protocol, victim safety management and case tracking by the VioGén System" and the VioGén System that allows members of State law enforcement agencies to manage cases of gender-based violence by including police risk assessments and re-assessments.

Since October, all active cases with an intermediate risk level that were reported or initially assessed prior to March 2019 (when the new protocol took effect) are being re-assessed.

The changes are focused on:

• Improving the predictive capability of the police risk assessment. For the first time, the police assessment does not only anticipate the recurrence risk level in each case but also the risk that said recurrence will be very serious or even lead to deaths. The predictive tool identifies and highlights those cases to the judicial authorities that present a profile susceptible to lethal recurrence if the authorities involved do not intervene.
• Improving the identification of cases with vulnerable or at-risk children under the care of victims of gender-based violence. The State Secretariat of Security underlines the importance of considering the children under the care of the victim in those cases where, even though no direct abuse has been suffered, the indicators show that they may be in a situation of vulnerability or risk. These cases with children are brought to the attention of the judicial authority so they can be assessed by specialised forensic analysts and enable the judicial authority to adopt the most appropriate measures for their protection.

Importance of training

Another priority for the Ministry of Home Affairs is training, especially for the assessing officers responsible for first contact with the victim, receiving the report and the initial police risk assessment. 2,800 officers from the State law enforcement agencies have attended training courses this year.

Ensuring that initial case diagnosis reflects the reality and that the right police resources are used will depend on the rigorous and expert intervention of these officers. Furthermore, this initial diagnosis is then passed on to judges and public prosecutors for the adoption of interim measures and restraining orders.

Third-highest reason for imprisonment

Furthermore, 4,308 men are serving sentences for gender-based violence offences as their main offence in prisons managed under the Secretariat-General for Penitentiary Institutions of the Ministry of Home Affairs. This makes male violence against women the third-highest reason for imprisonment, after financial offences and public health offences.

The services of Penalties and Alternative Measures Management, also run by the Penitentiary Institutions Department, have received 20,822 alternative judicial rulings besides imprisonment (Community Service and suspended sentences) so far this year. Gender-based violence is the most common cause of sentencing in this regard, following road safety offences.

The average profile of an imprisoned abuser is a Spaniard (78% of those sentenced) aged between 41 and 60 (45%). The most common characteristics for alternative penalties are Spanish aged between 31 and 40 (74%).

PRIA and PRIA-MA

Since 2001, the Penitentiary Institutions Department has been working to re-educate those sentenced for gender-based violence in order to meet the constitutional reinsertion mandate. This is being carried out via the Programme of Intervention for Gender-based Violence Abusers (PRIA) for those in prison and the PRIA-MA programme for those under alternative measures.

At present, the programme (voluntary for those in prison) is being provided at 48 Central Government penitentiaries to a total of 940 prisoners. For those under alternative measures, sentence suspension is tied to the obligation to undergo treatment. 8,589 abusers have been treated so far this year.

The statistics on reinsertion back the success of these programmes. The most recent report on PRIA was conducted between 2007 and 2010 on a sample of 1,065 prisoners taking part in the programme. Recurrence in those who did not complete the programme stood at 13.7%. Recurrence in those who completed the therapy fell to 8.6%.

As regards PRIA-MA, the most recent study by the Autonomous University of Madrid is from 2017. It was conducted on a sample of 678 convicts who took part in the programme in 2010. The criteria for recurrence was set as one single police report with no need for a conviction within five years following completion of the programme. In this case, recurrence among those who completed the programme stood at 6.8%.

'Sermujer.es'

Alongside the work being done with those convicted of gender-based violence, the Penitentiary Institutions Department launched the Sermujer.es programme in 2011. This consists of psychotherapeutic intervention to give imprisoned women the tools to improve their personal skills, tackle the difficulties of being in prison and teach them how to identify and deal with male violence against women.

Around 1,500 women have taken part in the programme since it was launched. At present, it is being provided at 19 centres to 239 women. A study conducted by UNED to check the effectiveness of Sermujer.es showed that 70-75% of women who enter prison have been the victims of abuse.

Non official translation