According to a report, 3,000 acts of violence against women and girls are committed every day in England and Wales alone. The police are talking about “epidemic proportions” and a “national emergency”.
Violence against women and girls has reached drastic levels in Great Britain. In the twelve months from 2022 to 2023, more than one million acts of violence against women and girls were recorded in England and Wales alone. These include sexual violence, domestic violence, stalking and child abuse. This is according to a report by the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC).
Every twelfth woman affected
According to the study, this corresponds to almost 3,000 crimes per day and 20 percent of all crimes if fraud is excluded. At least one in twelve women becomes a victim each year, according to the report. The number of unreported cases is likely to be even higher.
“Violence against women and girls is a national emergency,” wrote Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth, who is responsible for the issue, in a commentary accompanying the study. Society must stop accepting such acts as “inevitable,” she said.
From April 2022 to March 2023, these offenses accounted for almost a fifth of all crimes other than fraud recorded by the police there. This is an increase of 37 percent compared to 2018/2019.
“Epidemic proportions”
Every year at least one in 20 adults in England and Wales – that's 2.3 million people – commit violent crimes against women and girls, the study continues. “These are very conservative estimates, we know that many crimes go unreported and the police often only see the tip of the iceberg,” explained Blyth. She criticised the fact that violence against women and girls has “reached epidemic proportions”. The law enforcement authorities and courts are overwhelmed and the state must intervene.
The association called on the government to set up a national centre for public safety to tackle the problem at various levels. The current institutions and law enforcement alone are not able to deal with the situation. “A central point of contact within the police that brings together specialised skills and competencies would help police forces improve their response to violence against women and girls,” said Blyth.
Tech companies should also be held accountable. They must prevent boys from being confronted with misogynistic material on the Internet.
More cases of sexual Child abuse
The study also revealed a drastic increase in recorded cases of child sexual abuse. The number rose by 435 percent from 2013 to 2022, from just over 20,000 to almost 107,000 cases. According to the study, the perpetrators are getting younger and younger, with the average age of the suspects now being just 15 years.
Under the recently replaced Conservative government, the Home Office declared violence against women and girls a national threat in February 2023. More than 4,500 police officers were trained to investigate rape and other serious sexual offences. The number of adult rape charges increased by 38 percent from December 2022 to December 2023.
