The police crime statistics: male* victims of domestic – loud and clear

2. June 2023

On 30 March 2023, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) published the figures and tables of the police crime statistics (PKS). Based on this, the professional community traditionally expects an evaluation of the PKS figures by the BKA in November, which represents the official known statistic of domestic violence. This evaluation then usually allows for breakdowns in the area of intimate partner violence, e.g. in the number of victims by age, nationality or in relation to victims with disabilities.

In recent years, the evaluation of the BKA referred exclusively to intimate partner violence. However, the figures are not very comparable with the statistics on the use of men’s shelters in Germany compiled by the Federal Office for the Protection of Men against Violence (Bundesfach- und Koordinierungsstelle Männergewaltschutz, BFKM). This is because men* who are affected by violence in the family circle and in the social environment, i.e. in neighbourhoods and circles of friends, also enquire in men* shelters and the associated counselling landscape. Therefore, it is necessary to include this in the evaluations, which the BFKM will implement in the statistics on the use of men’s shelters for 2022. In the following, we explain the points that can already be taken from the PKS.

The evaluation of the PKS the overall area of domestic violence (partner and family violence) by the BFKM shows that girls* and women* (= 174,162) are particularly affected by domestic violence. Boys* and men* (= 70,751) are also not spared from violence (Fig. 1).

The figures published by the BKA in March 2023 also make it clear that in the previous year men* were less affected by intimate partner violence, but much more by family violence (Fig. 2 and Fig. 3). Domestic violence includes violence by children, grandchildren, siblings, parents, grandparents and in-laws, sons and daughters. In the area of family victims of violence, men* are more than 50% victims of violence with the most serious consequences, including serious bodily harm, sometimes with a fatal outcome. In 2022, 875 boys* and men* more than girls* and women* suffered such serious and very serious physical injuries in the area of family violence (m: 5,662, f: 4,787).

According to police statistics for 2022, 80.1% of those affected by intimate partner violence were female* and 19.9% male*. This percentage distribution corresponds to the data from previous years. For violence perpetrated by family members, the victim rate for girls* and women* was 54%, while boys* and men* accounted for 46% of the victims. Violence in the immediate social environment (e.g. friends, neighbours) was distributed among 56% male* and 44% female* victims.

Figure 4 refers on the one hand to the data on intimate partner violence 2021 officially published by the BKA in November 2022. On the other hand, we compare these to the figures obtained by the BFKM on the basis of the nationwide PKS, relating to those affected by domestic violence overall for 2022.

It becomes clear that the extended depth of depiction of domestic violence (partnership and family violence) and violence in the immediate social environment significantly broadens the visibility of the affected groups of people. Above all, the extent to which men* who report to men*counselling services are affected by violence is more realistic.

Text: Jana Peters, Sources: BKA 2022; BKA 2023

* So far, only the binary gender designation is used in the PKS.
The BFKM takes gender and sexual diversity into account.