Administrative data collection on rape, femicide and intimate partner violence in EU Member States.
Date: 2017-05-02
Institutions: European Institute for Gender Equality
Subjects: EU Member State, data collection, domestic violence, femicide, gender equality, sexual discrimination, sexual violence, source of information, woman, women's rights

Administrative data collection  
on rape, femicide and  
intimate partner violence  
in EU Member States

European Institute for Gender Equality

The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) is the EU knowledge centre on gender equality. EIGE supports policy 
makers and all relevant institutions in their efforts to make equality between women and men a reality for all Europeans 
by providing them with specific expertise and comparable and reliable data on gender equality in Europe.

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Contents

What is administrative data? 

How is administrative data collected? 

What data is available on rape? 

What data is available on femicide? 

What data is available on intimate partner violence? 

Limited data availability in the health sector 

Evaluating the quality of the administrative data 

2

2

3

4

5

6

7

Country Abbreviations

AT

BE

BG

CY

CZ

DE

DK

EE

EL

ES

FI

FR

HR

HU

IE

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Germany

Denmark

Estonia

Greece

Spain

Finland

France

Croatia

Hungary

Ireland

IT

LT

LU

LV

MT

NL

PL

PT

RO

SE

SL

SK

UK

Italy

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Latvia

Malta

Netherlands

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Sweden

Slovenia

Slovakia

United Kingdom

EU-28

European Union

What is administrative data?

Administrative  data  comprises  information  collected  by 
institutions  such  as  the  police,  justice  system,  health  and 
social  services  and  other  agencies  that  come  into  contact 
with cases of violence against women (VAW). The police and 
the justice systems are the most advanced in the availability, 
quality and comparability of administrative data on violence 
against  women.  In  general,  the  police  collect  data  on  the 
cases reported to them, the investigations conducted and 
their outcomes. Police data is compiled at national level in 
all Member States, although not all use identical variables. 
This  means  that  comparison  of  data  at  the  EU  level  is 
made  more  difficult.  Data  is  usually  collected  on  a  large 
range  of  criminal  incidents,  as  well  as  information  on  the 
victim  (namely  the  sex)  and,  in  many  Member  States,  on 

the victim-perpetrator relationship. In many countries, the 
latter has been introduced in recent years as a variable to 
be collected alongside the common classification of crimes.

The  same  is  true  for  court  statistics,  which  include  the 
number of court cases filed, the number of convictions and 
the number of convicted persons. Police statistics generally 
include  more  information  on  the  victim,  while  court 
statistics provide more information on the perpetrator.

Both  police  and  court  statistics  are  mostly  categorised 
according to the typology of crimes in the criminal code of 
the Member State. However, other categorisation systems 
are also used in some cases.

How is administrative data collected?

Social services sector

In the social services sector, the authorities or institutions 
responsible for collecting data on violence against women 
at  national  level  vary  greatly.  In  four  Member  States  (ES, 
HU, PL, SI), a ministry (of, for example, health, social policy 
or  labour)  is  responsible  for  central  data  compilation, 
while  the  remaining  Member  States  all  have  a  national 
agency, association or network of social services or similar, 
responsible for data collation.

Health sector

All Member States that reported centralised data collection 
on violence against women have either a national institute 
or national board for (public) health that is responsible for 
centralised  data  collection.  An  exception  is  Spain,  where 
the  authority  in  charge  is  the  Commission  on  Gender 
Violence  of  the  Inter-territorial  Council  of  the  Ministry  of 
Health, Social Services and Equality.

Data  is  first  recorded  by  the  relevant  institutions  within 
each  sector.  The  collection,  compilation  and  provision 
of  data  at  national  level  is  carried  out  by  the  following 
authorities.

Police sector

For  the  police  sector,  data  is  first  recorded  by  the  local 
or  municipal  police  offices  and,  if  applicable,  at  a  higher 
level, by regional offices. In all Member States, data is then 
compiled  by  a  federal  police  authority  or  the  Ministry  of 
Interior. In eight Member States (DK, EL, ES, IT, NL, PL, RO, 
UK),  a  national  statistical  institute  is  also  responsible  for 
compiling police data. In all except five Member States (BG, 
IE,  HU,  AT,  SE)  police  data  on  violence  is  at  least  partially 
published.  However  in  some  Member  States  (EL,  NL,  RO, 
FI, UK) this data is published only by the national statistical 
institute.

Justice sector

In  the  case  of  the  justice  sector,  data  is  recorded  at  the 
courts  and  the  prosecution  offices.  In  eight  Member 
States (1) data from the courts and/or prosecution service 
is compiled by a national statistical institute. In 10 Member 
States (2) data is (also) compiled by the Ministry of Justice. 
In 11 Member States (3) data is (also) compiled at a central 
level by the public prosecutor’s office or similar and in nine 
Member States (4) data is gathered by a central authority 
of the judiciary (e.g. service for the Criminal Justice Policy 
(BE), the General Council of the Judiciary (ES), the Courts 
Service of Ireland (IE)).

(1) 
(2) 
(3) 
(4) 

DE, EL, IT, HU, NL, AT, RO, SI.
CZ, EE, FR, HR, IT, LU, NL, PL, SK, UK.
BE, BG, EL, ES, FI, HU PL, RO SE, SK, UK.
BE, IE, ES, HU, LV, LT, NL, RO, SE.

2

What data is available on rape?

Police sector

An analysis of national data showed that for the crime and 
justice sector, all Member States have at least one statistical 
product  or  administrative  source  collecting  data  on  rape 
offences.

The police are the main source of data on reported incidents 
of  rape,  with  data  disaggregated  by  the  sex  of  the  victim 

in  almost  all  Member  States  (with  the  exception  of  FR,  HU 
and PL). In most Member States (with the exception of DK, 
EL, IT, MT and UK), the police also record some information 
(to  varying  degrees  of  specificity)  about  the  relationship 
between  the  victim  and  perpetrator,  and  most  also  record 
the number of offences. Police data in 17 Member States (5) 
includes  the  number  of  victims.  Only  two  Member  States 
(BG,  CY)  have  separate  data  for  rape  and  attempted  rape, 
from at least one source (6).

Table 1. Overview of gaps in data collection for rape in the police sector (7)

Type of 
VAW

Rape

Availability of data including victim’s sex Data available, but no precise 

24 
(BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, EE, IE (10), EL, ES, HR, CY, 
LV, LT, LU, MT, NL, AT, PT, RO, SI, SK, FI, SE, UK)

relationship breakdown (8)

Not applicable (11)

No available data, or no break-
down by sex of the victim (9)

4 
(FR, IT (12), HU, PL)

Justice sector

In  nine  Member  States  (BG,  CZ,  ES,  IT  (13),  LT,  NL,  RO,  SK), 
both  the  justice  and  police  sectors  collect  data  on  rape. 
However  in  three  (FR,  HU,  PL),  this  data  is  only  collected 
by  the  justice  sector;  in  these  three  countries  the  data 

is  disaggregated  by  the  sex  of  the  victim  and  includes 
information  on  the  victim-perpetrator  relationship.  Most 
justice  sector  sources  record  data  on  filed  court  cases, 
convictions and convicted persons; however, few sources 
report data on victims.

Table 2. Overview of gaps in data collection on rape in the justice sector

Type of 
VAW

Rape

Availability of data including 
victim’s sex

Data available, but no precise 
relationship breakdown (14)

No available data, or no break-
down by sex of the victim

11 
(BG, CZ, ES, FR, LT, HU, NL, PL, RO, SK, SE)

Not applicable (15)

17 
(BE, DK, DE, EE, IE, EL, HR, IT (16), 
CY, LV, LU, MT, AT, PT, SI, FI, UK)

Social services sector

In  11  Member  States  social  services  collect  data  on  rape 
disaggregated by sex of the victim (CZ, EE, IE, EL, FR, IT, LV, 
HU, NL, PT, SE). In most Member States both data on rape 
and data on intimate partner violence (IPV) are collected. 
Most of the social services support victims of rape, whether 
or not the incident happened within a family context.

In all but three Member States (EL, NL, SE) information is 
also collected about the relationship between the victim 
and the perpetrator.

Compared  to  intimate  partner  violence,  data  collection  on 
rape seems to be more straightforward. All Member States 
use either number of calls, or number of victims, or both, as 
counting units. One exception is the Netherlands, in which 
one service also reports on the number of offenders.

BG, CZ, DK, DE, IE, ES, IT, CY, LT, LU, MT, AT, PL, PT, Sl, SK, FI.
This refers to the sources for which information is publicly available. 
The tables were constructed according to the information retrieved through research by national experts (desk research and communication with authorities) 
as well as desk research by the Core Project Team; data that is not publically available and has not been communicated by authorities upon request could not be 
taken into account. 
This column includes Member States that report that they collect data on the relationship but there is either no specific category to indicate an intimate partnership 
or we could not confirm what the relationship category constitutes exactly. 
No breakdown by sex of the victim effectively means there is no useful data on this offence, so they have been grouped into the same category.
Ireland could be added to this category but the data on relationship is not recorded systematically.
The relationship breakdown is not applicable to rape because this study looked at all rape cases, not only between partners.
Italy only records data on sexual violence in general, not specifically on rape. 
Though Italy only records data on sexual violence in general, not specifically on rape. 
This column includes Member States that report that they collect data on the relationship but there is either no specific category to indicate an intimate partnership 
or we could not confirm what the relationship category constitutes exactly. 
The relationship breakdown is not applicable to rape because this study looked at all rape cases, not only between partners.
Italy only records data on sexual violence in general, not specifically on rape.

(5) 
(6) 
(7) 

(8) 

(9) 
(10) 
(11) 
(12) 
(13) 
(14) 

(15) 
(16) 

3

What data is available on femicide?

No  Member  State  has  a  legal  definition  of  femicide. 
However, the concept is generally understood as the killing 
of a woman in the context of intimate partner violence. In 
order to assess the number of countries that collect data on 
femicide, two key variables are used: the sex of the victim 
and the victim-perpetrator relationship.

Police sector

As  with  rape,  it  is  mainly  the  police  that  collect  data  on 
homicide, disaggregated by the sex of the victim (with the 
exception  of  LT  and  PL,  where  the  justice  sector  collects 
this data). All but six Member States (DK, EL, LT, LU, MT, PL) 
reportedly record information about the victim-perpetrator 
relationship  in  conjunction  with  homicide  data.  Fourteen 
Member States (CZ, DE, ES, FR, HR, IT, LV, NL, PT, RO, SI, SK, 
FI, UK) record information that can provide insight into the 

killing  of  women  by  their  intimate  partners,  such  as  the 
intimate nature of the relationship, using categories such as 
‘husband’,  ‘partner’,  ‘cohabitant’  or  other  similar  labels  for 
intimacy  between  the  victim  and  perpetrator.  The  level  of 
detail varies between the countries; in France, for example, it 
is possible to differentiate crimes conducted by current and 
previous partners, whereas Spain and Portugal broadened 
the  scope  of  intimate  partners  to  include  boyfriends  (17). 
Conversely,  some  Member  States  use  broader  categories, 
such as ‘spouse, or similar’ (in RO).

Two  Member  States  (FR,  UK)  are  progressive  examples  in 
that  they  make  more  data  publicly  available  about  the 
circumstances  of  intimate  partner  killings.  For  example,  in 
France,  the  motive  for  killing  is  reported,  which  is  crucial 
for understanding the nature of the phenomenon (18). Both 
France and the United Kingdom make data available on the 
weapons used and the general circumstances of the act (19).

Table 3. Overview of gaps in data collection on femicide in the police sector

Type of VAW

Availability of data including victim’s sex 
and victim-perpetrator relationship

Data available, but no 
precise relationship 
breakdown (20)

No available data, or no 
breakdown by sex of the 
victim

Femicide

14 
(CZ, DE, ES, FR, HR, IT, LV, NL, PT, RO, SI, SK, FI, UK)

8 
(BE, BG, EE, IE, CY, HU, AT, SE)

6 
(DK, EL, LT, LU, MT, PL)

Justice sector

In  10  Member  States  (EE,  ES,  FR,  CY,  LU,  HU,  NL,  RO,  SK,  SE), 
information  on  femicide  is  collected  both  by  the  police  and 
justice sectors. However, specific information on the nature of 

the relationship could only be confirmed in the cases of Spain, 
France  and  Romania.  In  two  Member  States  (LT,  PL)  femicide 
data is only collected by the justice sector. Most justice sector 
data is on court cases filed, convictions and convicted persons, 
with few sources recording data on victims.

Table 4. Overview of gaps in data collection on femicide in the justice sector

Type of VAW Availability of data including victim sex and 
victim-perpetrator relationship breakdown

Femicide

5 
(ES, FR, LT, NL, RO)

Data available, but no 
precise relationship 
breakdown (21)

7 
(EE, CY, LU, HU, PL, SE, SK)

No available data, or no 
breakdown by sex of the 
victim

16 
(BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, IE, EL, HR, IT, 
LV, MT, AT, PT, SI, FI, UK)

(17)  Ministério da Administração Interna Secretaria-Geral do Ministério da Administração Interna (2014), ‘Violencia Doméstica’, Lisboa. 
(18)  Ministère de l’intérieure (2015),  France. 
(19) 
(20) 

Office for National Statistics (2016), Statistical Bulletin — Chapter 2: Homicide, England and Wales. 
This column includes Member States that report that they collect data on the relationship but there is either no specific category to indicate an intimate partnership 
or we could not confirm what the relationship category constitutes exactly.
This column includes Member States that report that they collect data on the relationship but there is either no specific category to indicate an intimate partnership 
or we could not confirm what the relationship category constitutes exactly.

(21) 

4

What data is available on intimate partner violence?

Although  various  national  definitions  of  intimate  partner 
violence exist across the EU-28, it is not a specific criminal 
offence  in  all  Member  States.  Therefore  the  categories 
used  for  collecting  data  on  intimate  partner  violence  are 
not necessarily related to offences in the national criminal 
code, but can stem from various legislation or policy. While 
some  states  may  have  a  law  on  domestic  violence,  (or  in 
exceptional cases, on intimate partner violence), data may 
still  only  be  collected  on  specific  offences  in  the  criminal 
code.  This  complicates  the  link  between  legal  definitions, 
crime classifications and categories used for data collection, 
unlike rape and femicide.

data  is  collected  either  on  domestic  violence  in  general 
or  on  separate  offences  in  the  criminal  code.  The  data  is 
categorised, allowing the relationship to  be distinguished; 
categories  usually  include  ‘partner’,  ‘spouse’  or  ‘previous 
partner’  as  a  general  term  (for  example  LT,  HU,  MT),  or 
sometimes a more detailed breakdown (for example LU, PT). 
With the exception of Denmark, (which has no relationship 
information  available  for  this  offence),  the  remaining  nine 
Member States (BG, IE, EL, HR, CY, PL, SI, SK, SE) also collect 
data  on  domestic  violence  and  the  victim-perpetrator 
relationship  (though  it  is  not  always  a  precise  relationship 
breakdown).

Below  is  information  on  Member  States  that  reportedly 
collect  data  on  intimate  partner  violence  or  domestic 
violence,  and  those  that  collect  data  on  the  victim-
perpetrator relationship, which is crucial for distinguishing 
intimate partner violence.

In 18 Member States (BE, CZ, DE, EE, ES, FR, IT (22), LV, LT, LU, 
HU,  MT,  NL,  AT,  PT,  RO,  FI,  UK)  both  the  police  and  justice 
sectors  collect  data  on  the  precise  victim-perpetrator 
relationship  in  cases  of  intimate  partner  violence.  The 

Police sector

In  17  of  the  18  Member  States  mentioned  above,  data  on 
intimate  partner  violence  is  available  from  the  police  (the 
exception  is  RO).  In  12  of  these  18  states,  the  police  most 
often record data on the victims (CZ, DE, EE, ES, FR, HU, MT, 
NL, AT, PT, RO, FI) and 10 record data on the offences (BE, EE, 
FR, LV, LT, HU, NL, RO, FI, UK).

Table 5. Overview of gaps in data collection on intimate partner violence in the police sector

Type of VAW Availability of data including victim’s 
sex and victim-perpetrator relation-
ship

Data available, but no precise rela-
tionship breakdown (23)

No available data, or 
no breakdown by sex 
of the victim

IPV

16 
(BE, CZ, DE, EE, IE (24), ES, FR, LV, LT, HU, 
MT, NL, AT, PT, FI, UK)

10 
(BG, EL, HR, IT (25), CY, LU, PL, SI, SK, SE)

2 
(DK, RO)

Justice sector

Data  collected  by  the  justice  sector  on  intimate  partner 
violence  is  only  available  in  seven  Member  States  (ES,  FR, 

LV,  LT,  LU,  HU,  RO).  Units  of  measurement  used  in  national 
justice  sectors  vary  significantly  and  only  a  few  Member 
States  report  recording  data  on  the  victims  in  the  justice 
sector.

Table 6. Overview of gaps in data collection of intimate partner violence in the justice sector

Type of VAW

Availability of data including victim 
sex and victim-perpetrator relation-
ship breakdown

Data available, but no 
precise relationship 
breakdown (26)

No available data, or no 
breakdown by sex of the 
victim

IPV

7 
(ES, FR, LV, LT,LU, HU, RO)

7 
(EE, HR, CY, NL, PL, SK, SE)

14 
(BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, IE, EL, IT, 
MT, AT, PT, SI, FI, UK)

The intimate relationship is recorded for homicide cases only.
This column includes Member States that report that they collect data on the relationship but there is either no specific category to indicate an intimate partnership 
or we could not confirm what the relationship category constitutes exactly.
Ireland can be added to this category but the data on relationship is not recorded systematically. 
Italy: precise relationship breakdown only recorded for homicide cases. 
This column includes Member States that report to collect data on the relationship but there is either no specific category to indicate an intimate partnership or we 
could not confirm what the relationship category constitutes exactly.

(22) 
(23) 

(24) 
(25) 
(26) 

5

Social services sector

Thirty-four  social  service  organisations  across  19  Member 
States  were  identified  as  collecting  data  on  the  broader 
concept  of  domestic  violence  disaggregated  by  sex  (CZ, 
DK, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, CY, LV, LU, HU, MT, NL, PL, PT, FI, 
SE). A significant majority of these organisations also report 
on  the  victim-perpetrator  relationship.  In  eight  Member 
States (DK, IE, FR, IT, CY, PT, FI, SE) social services reported 
information  on  the  precise  nature  of  the  relationship  in 
incidents of intimate partner violence. There is, thus, at least 
one source providing data on both the sex of the victim and 
the relationship (either precise or vague) to the aggressor in 
each of the 19 Member States listed above.

Social  services  in  six  Member  States  (IE,  FR,  IT,  LU,  MT,  FI) 
provide  data  on  the  type  of  violence  experienced  by  the 
victims. Apart from the Rape Crisis Network in Ireland (which 
also reports rape within the context of intimate partnership), 
all  have  breakdowns  based  on  larger  categories,  such  as 
physical, psychological, sexual and economic violence.

Social  services  data  from  all  19  Member  States  are  based 
on similar counting units, although it should be noted that 
there are differences in wording across institutions, such as 
number of contacts or number of calls. This approximation 
groups a larger number of Member States within the same 
category: social services in 16 Member States report either 
on the number of calls or the number of contacts (CZ, DK, IE, 
EL, FR, HR, IT, CY, LV, LU, HU, MT, NL, PL, FI, SE); three report 
only on the number of victims (ES, IT, MT); and two base their 
data on the number of cases they handle each year (EL, PT).

Social  services  usually  collect  data  from  the  perspective 
of  the  victim  rather  than  the  perpetrator.  Only  in  three 
Member States do social services report data on the number 
of perpetrators (HR, NL, PL).

Limited data availability in the health sector

The research identified administrative sources in the health 
sector from nine Member States (DK, ES, HR, LV, MT, RO, SK, 
FI, SE) collecting data on one or more of the three forms of 
violence  against  women.  In  all  nine  Member  States,  health 
services gather data on rape (DK, ES, HR, LV, MT, RO, SK, FI, 
SE);  in  four  data  is  collected  on  homicides  (DK,  LV,  RO,  SE); 
and in four data is collected on intimate partner violence (ES, 
LV, MT, RO).

The  measurement  units  used  by  institutions  vary  widely, 
partly  depending  on  the  type  of  violence  against  women 
measured.  The  units  of  measurement  used  are  number 
of  patients/diagnosis  —  patient  file/deaths  and  death 
certificates.

Table 7. Overview of gaps in data collection, health sector

Most  sources  use  clear  definitions  for  their  classifications, 
based  on  international  medical  codes  (the  international 
coding  system  most  frequently  mentioned  is  the  ICD-
10  (27),  followed  by  the  European  Injury  Database  (IDB) 
and  the  Diagnosis-related  Group  system  (DRG).  Data  on 
the  victim-perpetrator  relationship  is  recorded  in  only  five 
Member States (ES, LV, MT, RO, SE). Further details about the 
availability of data on these three forms of violence against 
women in the health sector are presented in Table 7 below.

Type of VAW Availability of data 

(Member State) 
including sex

Data available disag-
gregated by victim sex

Rape

9 
(DK, ES, HR, LV, MT, 
RO, SK, FI, SE)

7 
(DK, ES, HR, LV, MT, RO, 
SK)

Data available disag-
gregated by victim-per-
petrator relationship

5 
(ES, LV, MT, RO, SE)

Homicide

4 
(DK, LV, RO, SE)

3 
(DK, LV, RO)

2 
(LV, RO)

IPV

4 
(ES, LV, MT, RO)

4

4 
(ES, LV, MT, RO)

(ES, LV, MT, RO)

No available data

19 
(BE, BG,CY, CZ, DE, EE, EL, FR, IE, IT, 
LT, LU, HU, NL, AT, PL, PT, SI, UK)

24 
(BE, BG, CZ, DE, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, 
HR, IT, CY, LT, LU, HU, NL, AT, PL, 
PT, SI, SK, FI, SE, UK)

24 
(BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, EE, IE, EL, FR, 
HR, IT, CY, LT, LU, HU, NL, AT, PL, 
PT, SI, SK, FI, SE, UK)

(27) 

International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision.

6

Evaluating the quality of the administrative data

Comparability

Accuracy and reliability

There  is  good  comparability  of  police  and  justice  sector 
data  at  a  national  level  between  Member  States.  Many 
sources  that  produce  or  compile  justice  data  reportedly 
use national guidelines and clear rules, as well as protocols 
and/or codified questionnaires (28). For the development of 
statistical products, most police and justice sources report 
having  clear  rules  of  data  aggregation  in  place.  However, 
for  most  sources  from  the  police  and  justice  sectors,  no 
information  was  available  on  any  historical  conceptual  or 
methodological changes in data collection that could affect 
comparability  over  time,  which  presents  a  challenge  to 
quality validation (29).

is  limited  by  differences 

Overall,  comparability  of  social  services  data  at  a  national 
in  classification  and/or 
level 
recording  methods  and  processes  between  institutions; 
gathering  and  processing  data  centrally  would 
likely 
improve  the  quality.  In  the  health  sector,  information  on 
data  collection  procedures  was  too  scarce  to  accurately 
assess the level of comparability.

Coherence

Most  statistical  products  based  on  police  data  and  many 
from  the  justice  sector  are  reportedly  based  on  coherent 
data, meaning that data compiled from different institutions 
is  harmonised,  with  corrections  made  for  differences  in 
concepts  and/or  methods.  Similarly,  in  social  services  data 
collection, most Member States with available data conduct 
data  harmonisation  before  preparing  a  statistical  product 
and  in  the  health  sector  most  of  the  Member  States  with 
available data also do so.

to 

relates 

reliability 

Accuracy  and 
the  method  of 
measurement, which can vary given that each administrative 
source  registering  the  data,  and  each  statistical  product 
compiling  data,  has  differing  priorities.  Overall,  reliability 
and accuracy of police data can be considered fairly good 
and  better  than  other  sources  (30).  While  some  problems 
were  reported  with  the  accuracy  of  data  entry  at  the 
recording  stage,  most  police  sources  have  mechanisms  in 
place to control for these errors.

In both the police and justice sectors, most Member States 
report  having  some  method  in  place  in  their  statistical 
product to control for the validity of their data (e.g. through 
triangulation  with  data  from  other  sources  or  data  from 
previous years or meetings among persons involved in data 
collection  and  compilation)  and  in  most  Member  States, 
data  is  also  reportedly  controlled  for  processing  errors. 
In  each  sector  only  five  Member  States  (31)  reported  that 
internal or external audits are used for quality assurance.

With  respect  to  data  collection  at  the  administrative 
sources themselves, in both the police and justice sectors, 
most  Member  States  use  standardised  forms  for  data 
collection  in  order  to  control  for  recording  errors  at  the 
source. Several Member States reported that their staff are 
trained and/or supervised for this data recording (32) and for 
the  vast  majority,  data  is  recorded  electronically  (33),  thus 
reducing the potential for errors. Though data is generally 
controlled  for  errors  at  the  source  (34),  the  majority  of 
Member States do not have regular independent audits or 
control mechanisms in place to ensure quality standards (35).

Information on accuracy and reliability of data from social 
services (36) and the health sector (37) was extremely difficult 

The following issues limiting geographical comparability were reported. (i) Belgium: there are still substantial differences in the ways in which data are recorded 
in the 27 Prosecutors’ Offices and with codes at the national level, as the methods of registering the data are not harmonised. There are 27 local databases, each 
connected to the national database (Belgian Prosecutors’ Offices). (ii) Croatia: data from justice and police sources is collected using different methods and with 
different purposes and, therefore, provides different figures (Croatian Bureau of Statistics). (iii) Italy: too often the information about the convicted person is not 
registered in the case management system (Italian Ministry of Justice). (iv) Latvia: a number of institutions run new electronic systems and are still struggling 
with functionality. It is not mandatory to fill in many fields, leaving space for interpretation and creating a dependence on the competence of the end-user of the 
system (Latvian Court Information System). (v) Poland: a report on implementation of the national programme for counteracting domestic violence mentions 
that only partial statistics exist in various administrative sources (Polish Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs). (vi) The Netherlands: no coding system is used by 
the courts (Rechtbank) and the Public Prosecution Office (Openbaar Ministerie).
In the police sector, methodological changes over time were reported for 22 sources, with conceptual changes (in categories or units recorded) over time reported for 
30 sources. Information on breaks in series would need to be specifically requested, as it is rarely available online. From justice sector sources, some breaks in series 
were reported due to methodological changes in data registration systems (EL, IT, LT, NL, UK).
The  main  issues  regarding  reliability  and  accuracy  in  data  collection  or  processing  at  the  source  are  as  follows.  (i)  Cyprus  and  the  Netherlands:  no  mechanisms 
to control recording errors or other quality assurance are in place (Cyprus Police Database, Dutch National Functional Manager, National Police Database). (ii) The 
Netherlands: staff are not trained specifically in data recording and/or processing (Dutch National Functional Manager, National Police Database). (iii) Poland: only 
internal audits are carried out, there are no external audits (Polish Police Bureau of Criminal Service).
In the justice sector: DE, IT, NL, SK, UK; in the police sector: DE, FR, LT, AT, UK.
In the justice sector: except EL, NL and RO for which no information was available, and those Member States where the information on data from the justice sector 
related only to statistical products, for example because the main central compilation point is the National Statistics Office (NSO). 
In the police sector this includes: BE, BG, DK, EE, ES, LV, LU, MT, AT, PL, SI, SE.
In the justice sector only two Member States (Poland (Ministry of Justice) and Sweden (Swedish Prison and Probation Services)) collect data in paper form; in the police 
sector it is only four sources. Collecting data in paper form increases the risk of processing errors.
In the justice sector three Member States (IE, NL, SK and FI) have no information on controlling processes available, and LV and RO reported that no control procedures 
were in place for some sources. 
In the justice sector only four Member States (BG, IT, LT, PL) reported that regular independent audits take place. In the police sector only around one third of the 
sources have independent audits or control mechanisms in place to ensure quality standards. Five sources have no such mechanisms in place, while, for the others, 
no information was found.

(28) 

(29) 

(30) 

(31) 
(32) 

(33) 

(34) 

(35) 

7

 
to  retrieve.  The  social  services  sector  rarely  has  data 
controlling  mechanisms,  standardised  forms  or  structured 
templates in place, and only a few Member States reportedly 
have staff training or regular independent audits. Regarding 
health  sector  data,  a  few  Member  States  reported  using 
standardised  data  collection  forms  (mainly  based  on  the 
ICD-10  coding  system),  while  some  others  reported  that 
data  is  controlled  for  recording  errors.  Most  of  the  data  is 
recorded electronically.

Accessibility and clarity

The  main  problem  in  accessibility  and  clarity  of  data  is 
the  scarcity  of  publicly  available,  clear  metadata.  In  most 
Member  States,  data  from  the  justice  and  police  sectors 
is  fully  or  partially  available  to  the  public,  either  online  or 
on  request.  A  small  minority  of  police  and  justice  sector 
services  reported  that  their  data  is  not  publicly  available, 
and no information at all on availability could be obtained 
for  an  even  smaller  minority.  The  data  for  both  sectors  is 
most commonly published in (a variety of) publications, and 

to  a  lesser  degree  in  online  databases.  A  small  number  of 
Member States either do not publish their data or provided 
no information on the format used.

Around half of the Member states have data publicly available 
(either on request or online) from the social services sector, 
although metadata is less commonly publicly available. This 
illustrates the difficulty in assessing coverage and usability 
of the data from this sector. In the health sector, data and 
metadata  is  publicly  available  for  many  of  the  Member 
States where data on these forms of violence is collected.

Timeliness

The  time  lapse  between  the  recording  of  the  data  and  its 
publication is between 1 and 2 years. This applies to most 
sources  in  all  sectors.  For  a  small  number  of  data  sources, 
the timeframe exceeds 2 years.

The most important issues affecting reliability and accuracy from social services sources are as follows. (i) Croatia: there are only standardised templates in place, 
with no other means in place, such as training or control mechanisms (Croatian Ministry of Social Policy and Youth). (ii) Finland: in most cases the victim is the 
client, but there are several cases where an incident has been notified by a family member or somebody else close to the victim. This notifying individual is then 
recorded as the client in the files (Finnish Victim Support, Data on violence against women incidents). (iii) Finland: data is not recorded based on incidents but 
rather on actions (Finnish Victim Support, Data on violence against women incidents). (iv) Latvia: information is available only insofar as the person involved is 
willing to disclose such data and is largely subjective (Latvian Hotline of Crisis and Consultation Centre, SKALBES). (v) The Netherlands: no cross-checking with 
data from other sources (Dutch Victim Support Netherlands).
Problems related to accuracy and reliability are as follows. (i) Croatia: data collection is not systematic and there is no procedure in place. The coding system used is 
the WTO International Classification of Diseases, but the data is not collected in a systematic way, and is therefore unreliable. There is no obligation for health workers 
to systematically record cases of violence against women, nor is there any form to fill (Croatian Institute for Public Health). (ii) Sweden: diagnoses are generally correct, 
given the quality of medical personnel. There is, however, the possibility of women hiding the real cause of injury, and medical personnel being unable to identify the 
real cause (Swedish National board on health and welfare).

(36) 

(37) 

8

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