Couples involved in 41% domestic violence

There were 8,800 victims of domestic violence in 2016 recorded by the police, which marked a 0.4 per cent slide than the number of victims in the previous year, according to Statistics Finland.

Of the victims of domestic and intimate partner violence, 69.0 per cent were women. Altogether, 40.6 per cent of domestic and intimate partner violence took place between married or cohabiting couples, which is as high a share as in 2015.

Close on one-fifth of domestic and intimate partner violence took place between former married or cohabiting couples.

Among the suspects of domestic and intimate partner violence, 77.9 per cent were men and one-fourth of the victims were underage.

The victim was a woman in around 80 per cent of cases of violence between married or cohabiting couples and former married or cohabiting couples.

In numbers, violence between married or cohabiting couples and former married or cohabiting couples was on level with the previous year. In 2016, the number of cases reported was 5,200.

In these statistics, persons are considered former cohabiting couples, if they have lived together in the year before the statistical reference year but not in the statistical reference year.

Around one-half of the attempted homicides and aggravated assaults were directed towards men.

When the victim was a man, one-half of the suspects were men. When a woman was a victim of an aggravated assault or attempted homicide, the suspect was a man in over 90 per cent of the cases. In 2016, there were 303 aggravated assaults or attempted homicides, of which 144 were directed at men.

The legislative amendment, which entered into force at the beginning of 2011, considerably increased the number of recorded assault offences.

After the legislative amendment, petty assaults on minors or close relatives became officially prosecutable. In addition, at the beginning of April 2015, an amendment to the Child Welfare Act (1302/2014) came into effect extending the reporting obligation in cases where an offence against a child’s life or health is suspected.

In 2016, cases of violence directed by parents against their underage children decreased by 1.3 per cent compared with that in the previous year. Acts against boys declined by 7.2 per cent and those against girls grew by 5.8 per cent.

The legal amendments also appear to have increased the proportion of women as suspects of all domestic and intimate partner violence. In 2010, the proportion of women suspected of domestic and intimate partner violence was 19.6 per cent, and in 2016 the corresponding proportion was 22.1 per cent.

Around one-third of violence directed by parents against their children was carried out by women. The share of violence performed by women was, however, the higher the younger the child victim was. When the victim was under six years old, the suspect was a woman (the child’s mother) in 35.5 per cent of the cases. When the victim was aged between 15 and 17, the suspect was a woman in 30.2 per cent of the cases. The absolute numbers are relatively small, so even the slightest changes can have a big effect on the percentage shares.