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

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.