The declared victims are mainly women and for more than half (55 %) minor, according to a study by the Ministry of the Interior. These figures must be contextualized: less than 10 % of the victims file a complaint, recalls the study.
MO12345lemonde with AFP
Police and gendarmerie services recorded 71,835 complaints for crimes or sexual crimes committed outside the family framework in 2021, up 24.1 % compared to 2020, according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior published Wednesday, November 30. After stagnation, due to the health crisis, between 2019 and 2020, the number of complaints resumed its very strong increase started in 2017.
The facts denounced are for a large majority (73 %) of physical sexual violence (rape or attempted rape, assault or sexual attack) and the declared victims are most often women (86 %) and for more Half minor (55 %), according to this study of the statistical service of Place Beauvau (SSMSI).
These figures must be replaced in the context of a weak propensity of the victims to report the facts they have undergone. “Less than 10 % of victims of sexual violence committed outside the family framework complaint,” said the SSMSI.
more than 48,000 people implicated in 2021, 96 % men
More and more victims file a complaint for several weeks, months or years after the committee of the facts denounced. Thus, the facts committed before 2021 represented 40.7 % of sexual offenses outside the family registered framework that year. In 2017, this figure was 31.8 %. An increase that is part “in the context of liberation of speech driven by the #MeToo movement from 2017/2018”, notes the study.
Women are more often victims in major cities. If the number of victims per capita is very homogeneous between the various departments, Paris is an exception: the capital records a number of victims per capita (from 15 to 64 years) much higher than all the others, of 1.8 victim per 1,000 Inhabitants, against an average of 1.1 in the rest of the country.
On the authors’ side, 48,294 people were questioned in 2021 for these crimes and crimes, almost exclusively men (96 %), most often major (73 %).