A new study showed an increase in domestic violence, while reported cases dropped. Researchers pored over domestic violence cases in Chile over the past decade. Women were the majority of victims.
The Millenium Institute for Research in Market Imperfections and Public Policy (MIPP) did a study and revised the rate of domestic violence in Chile over the last 10 years. The study showed that more victims have experienced domestic violence than cases reported.
According to the study, in 2022, 23 percent of women in Chile suffered some kind of domestic violence. This translates to one in every four women who suffered from domestic violence.
The research team from the institute looked at criminal statistics of domestic violence from the last three versions of the National Survey of Domestic Violence, a follow-up survey of the same population subset, and statistics from the Center for Crime Studies and Analysis (CEAD).
The study showed that the number of women who have suffered some kind of violence in their lives increased 11.4 percent, from 32.6 percent in 2012 to 44 percent in 2022.
The percentage of victims grew from 18.2 percent to 23.3 percent in 2022. Meanwhile, in the same year, CEAD recorded that 1.5 percent suffered from domestic violence.
The discrepancy between the rise of domestic violence and the low reporting rate urgently calls for systemic reforms, including a more effective judicial system, as many domestic violence cases are filed or processed over a lengthy period without a timely response, said Camila Trujillo and Damian Clarke, investigators from the institute.
The investigators said that almost half of the domestic cases were not reported because the victims did not feel safe to report or because they felt that the report was not going to help them in any way.
There are examples of successful policies in other countries such as female-operated units and hotlines and training for officials who deal with domestic violence.
There needs to be a collective effort to eradicate domestic violence, and there needs to be improvements in the judicial system and cooperation from authorities and citizens, the two investigators said.
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Chongyang Zhang is pursuing an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s program in journalism, media and globalisation. His interest lies in the relations among the United States, Latin America and China. He is currently doing an exchange semester at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.