VioGén

Spanish police makes use of intimate partner violence (IPV) risk assessment on a daily basis: the so-called VioGén system which records all reported cases of gender-based violence in Spain.

One of the most important approaches in the field of IPV recidivism prevention involves risk assessment and management. Violence risk assessment has a long history and has also been applied in numerous criminal typologies. In the case of IPV, its use is particularly important for police, who are usually in charge of case management. In daily practice, therefore, we would have a predictive interest focused on prevention. In order to prevent both lethal and non-lethal violence, correct risk assessment is essential. If homicide is understood as the ultimate expression of violence, it could reasonably be anticipated that IPV tools would adequately predict this phenomenon in the presence of a high risk. However, in the majority of previously reported IPH it was frequently observed that the latest police risk assessments had low predictive rates.

The project started with implementation in 2007 and is still ongoing.

Last review: February 2021