According to a note published Wednesday April 3 by the Public Policy Institute, 86% of complaints for sexual violence are dismissed. This is also the case for 72% of domestic violence.
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The #Metoo movement has been there. The Grenelle of domestic violence in 2019 too. Since October 2017 and the liberation of the speech of womenthe number of complaints filed for sexual and domestic violence increased sharply in France. Compared to 2012, the number of cases for sexual harassment, for example, tripled in 2019.
But although the number of complaints has been constantly increasing for several years, the percentage of cases closed without action remains as high as ever. Only 10 to 15% of rape complaints end in a criminal conviction. 86% of cases of sexual violence are dismissed without further action. “ A colossal figure », notes the author of the study, Maëlle Stricot, who specifies: “ It must nevertheless be emphasized that this rate of dismissal is not specific to sexual and domestic violence. It is high for all types of criminal offenses. For example, in attacks against the person, such as physical and verbal violence, the rate of dismissal reaches 85%.. »
More than one in two rapes dismissed
The main difference between other criminal offenses and sexual violence lies in the reason for dismissal. In the first case, it is largely due to a failure to identify the culprit. “ In the case of sexual and domestic violence, they are mostly closed due to a lack of proof. », underlines Maëlle Stricot.
An insufficiently characterized offense which leads to the dismissal by magistrates of 59% of rapes and 44% of sexual harassment cases. “ This is often explained by the age of the facts which can go back several years, and therefore the difficulty in providing conclusive evidence. », notes Maëlle Stricot. In the case of domestic violence, cases often end with an alternative to prosecution and an amicable agreement, with the victim and the perpetrator knowing each other.
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Authors heavily condemned
However, the study by the Public Policy Institute also shows that when perpetrators of sexual and domestic violence are prosecuted by the courts, 90 to 95% are found guilty at the end of the trial. A proportion again comparable to the rate of convictions of perpetrators of other types of personal attacks.
But perpetrators of sexual violence receive harsher penalties than for other offenses. The study reveals that the average length of the prison sentence is 19.6 months for perpetrators of sexual violence and 6.6 months for perpetrators of domestic violence.
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