Brief account of significant empirical evidence

1. Evaluation of the German Violence Protection Act“Article 1 of the laws to improve civil proceedings for providing protection in the event of acts of violence and harassment and to facilitate the surrender of the marital home in the event of a separation” of 01/01/2002 Brief account of significant empiricalevidence

2. Method of investigation • Qualitative and quantitative survey of the professions involved • File analysis acc. to §1361b BGB (Civil Code or §14 LPartG/ “Legal examination of facts” • Interviewing the parties concerned

3. Summary of results • Domestic violence and stalking are primarily reported by women • 68% of the (female) petitioners are married • Around half of them are living in separation at the time of violent action • A quarter of the cases relate to non-marital cohabitation relationships

4. Willingness to petition action / ImpedimentsIn general, an increase in the number of processes can be determined since the new legal provisions were passed.In the overall assessment, however, the reasons for not requesting legal action were also surveyed:- The women concerned did not have the relevant information - Lack of faith in the possible protection measures- Fear of the offender- Highly ambivalent relations to offender- Emotional or material dependency- Mutual children- Lack of support- Language difficulties

5. Objects of petition/Grounds for petition- The objects of petition are mostly (almost 100%) a trespassing ban and eviction from the home- Ban on making contact - 47%- Ban on coming within a certain distance - 47%- Harassment (stalking) - 24%- Definitive use of violence - 17%- Most of the applications are grounded on physical violence - (69%), mental violence - (65%) pestering / harassment - (27%) and damage to property (22%).- The evidence given is most frequently:- assurances under oath - (86%)- doctors’ certificates - (28%)- bringing a charge against the offender - (22%)- police reports - (21%)- witnesses - (12%)

6. Proceedings • 55% of all actions are initially decided in a summary proceeding; and 93% of these are decided in favour of the (usually female) petitioner • 14% of the petitions end without any further court action • 57% lead to a so-called “main proceeding” • Just over every second petition is successful from the victim’s perspective • The new legal provisions have been assessed by experts as successful and adequate, in particular as regards protection facilities and harsher penalties

7. Protection against violence and the health system • As a sub-study within the national action plan launched by the German government on the subject of violence against women, a survey on the topic of women affected by violence in Germany was conducted for the first time from March 2002 until September 2004. • Under the title “The life situation, safety and health of women in Germany”, representative data were gathered for the first time on behalf of the BSFFSJ (Federal Ministry for Families, Senior Citizens, Women and Juveniles) and presented in an overall European context. • Besides the overdue “scientific processing” of this topic, a national prevalence study was to be created in order to facilitate comparability and bring light to unreported areas.

8. Structure • Main survey on the basis of 10,000 interviews • Sub-survey among groups of the population that are “difficult to access” • Additional survey among Turkish and Eastern European / Russian migrants • Sub-population surveys among prostitutes, asylum seekers and imprisoned women • Qualitative section of survey on the basis of group discussions with women affected by violence

9. “Prevalence of violence” • Percentage of persons who were victims of violence and attacks during a certain period of time • Examples of results: • Physical assault - 37% • Sexual assault - 13% • Sexual harassment - 58% • Mental violence - 42% • Physical and/or sexual assault by relationship partner - 25%

10. Health, mental and psycho-social consequences of violence • 55% of all women who have experienced physical violence and 44% of those who have suffered sexual assault sustain physical injuries. • The risk of sustaining grievous bodily harm is the highest when the violence is exercised by the partner or ex-partner. • Serious: The physical consequences of violence and assault that cause extensive after-effects such as e.g.: • Sleeping disorders, anxiety disorders, self-inflicted injuries, eating disorders... • In addition, the number of health complaints (headaches, gastro-intestinal problems, gynaecological conditions...) is considerably higher • Effects on addictive behaviour, in particular tobacco consumption

11. Causes / Risk factors • Unfortunately, no educational or class associations can be ascertained - neither where those affected by violence nor the perpetrators are concerned. • Unemployment and alcoholism on the part of the offender may stimulate violence, but these are not substantive as explanation factors. • The main risk factors recognized were: • Separation and divorce situations • Violence in the background family

12. Help and prevention • Whenever help is sought on the part of these women, they most frequently consult doctors, in fact, a third of women affected by violence turn to the health system!! • Knowledge of offers of psycho-social aid for women suffering from domestic violence is not as extensive as one would presume in view of the relevant PR work. • Psycho-social aid and/or the police were called in by 13-29% of the women, depending on the severity, form and context of the violence.

13. Prospects / Tips • In all actions to combat domestic violence, a decisive role is played by the public and private health system! • For this reason, among others, a scientific investigation on the subject of domestic violence is now being started, the target group being registered practitioners. • Doctors’ surgeries are currently being canvassed to participate under medico-legal auspices. • “MIGG” (medical intervention against violence) is a website that is to be launched at the end of October.

14. Further literature... • “Legal Examination of Facts on Laws on Protection against Violence” by order of the Ministry of Justice (Dr. Marina Rupp, State Institute for Family Research, Bamberg, 2006) • “Standards and Recommendations for Basic and Advanced Training on the Subject of Domestic Violence” – Government-State Work Group “Domestic Violence”, UAG “Advanced Training”, 2007 • “Femicide in Couple Relationships” – Opportunities and Limits of Threat Management - (Prof. Dr. Luise Greuel, Ipos, Bremen, 2006) • Feature leaflet issued by the government health reporting system on the topic of “Health Consequences of Violence” for the Robert Koch Institute - Date of issue: 30/10/08

15. Thank you for your attention!