Table Of ContentSpringerBriefs in Criminology
Joachim Kersten · Michele Burman
Jarmo Houtsonen · Paul Herbinger
Norbert Leonhardmair Editors
Domestic Violence
and COVID-19
The 2020 Lockdown in
the European Union
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Joachim Kersten • Michele Burman
Jarmo Houtsonen • Paul Herbinger
Norbert Leonhardmair
Editors
Domestic Violence and
COVID-19
The 2020 Lockdown in the European Union
Editors
Joachim Kersten Michele Burman
Criminology III.1 School of Social and Political Sciences
German Police University University of Glasgow
Münster, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany Glasgow, UK
Jarmo Houtsonen Paul Herbinger
Police University College Vienna Centre for Societal Security
Tampere, Finland Vienna, Austria
Norbert Leonhardmair
Vienna Centre for Societal Security
Vienna, Austria
Deutsche Hochschule der Polizei
ISSN 2192-8533 ISSN 2192-8541 (electronic)
SpringerBriefs in Criminology
ISBN 978-3-031-15334-1 ISBN 978-3-031-15335-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15335-8
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Preliminary Remark
In May 2018 at Münster University, a group of about 30 social scientists, criminolo-
gists, medical and police science researchers, plus law enforcement representatives
from altogether eight EU countries gathered in a conference room of the medical
faculty for a ‘kick-off’ meeting. It was the official start of IMPRODOVA, an acro-
nym standing for ‘Improving Frontline Responses to High Impact Domestic
Violence’. We have received European Union funding to find out how frontline
response agencies’ cooperation worked, and how best practices could be used to
better serve persons subjected to domestic violence. The project has received fund-
ing from the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant
Agreement No 787054 (www.improdova.eu).
Since early 2020, the outbreak of Covid-19 has affected the everyday lives of
people around the globe. It also had an impact on our research activities in our part-
ner countries where we had to change mostly to online communication instead of
the intensive face-to-face interview and field research we were able to carry
out before.
In the winter and spring months of 2020, we began to reflect upon the repercus-
sions of the lockdown ordinances on the safety of women and children. We dis-
cussed the widespread media coverage of the beginning pandemic and statements
by experts and activists expressing growing concern about a potential out-of-control
increase of domestic violence. At this early time, reliable data sources were not
available, so we decided to investigate the matter making use of our working con-
tacts with the police partners of our project. We surveyed DV report numbers from
Austria, France, Finland, Germany, Portugal, Slovenia, and Scotland. We also used
our contacts with the public health and justice sector, plus victim service and sup-
port NGOs to collect information about changes in the numbers of court decisions,
restraining orders, demand for hotline information, shelter placement and further
fields related to domestic violence victimization that were potentially affected by
the lockdowns and other Covid-19 measures. We used these and other indicators to
assess whether an alarming increase of domestic violence cases had actually
taken place.
v
vi Preliminary Remark
During the 2020 consortium meetings, IMPRODOVA partners decided to collate
the acquired information about the lockdowns and domestic violence into a report.
With Springer we found an editor who supported our plan. Thanks go to Judith
Newlin who got interested in this project, and to Hemalatha Velarasu who took over
from Judith.
From the IMPRODOVA consortium, Jarmo Houtsonnen, Michele Burman, Paul
Herbinger, Norbert Leonhardmair and myself as the project coordinator followed
through the process to collect the country chapters from our eight partner countries
and to apply a comparative perspective on the findings to be found at the final part
of this book.
More detailed information about IMPRODOVA’s findings can be accessed
through our website (www.improdova.eu) and our handbook Improving Frontline
Responses to Domestic Violence in Europe published in 2021 by the University of
Maribor.
Joachim Kersten
Acknowledegement
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020
research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 787054. The con-
tents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and can in no way
be taken to reflect the views of the European Commission. (c) Copyright by the
IMPRODOVA consortium, www.improdova.eu.
Contact: Prof Dr Joachim Kersten, Coordinator of IMPRODOVA, Deutsche
Hochschule der Polizei, Zum Roten Berge 18, 48165 Münster, Deutschland,
[email protected].
vii
Contents
Domestic Violence and COVID-19 Lockdowns: A Shadow Pandemic? . . . . 1
Joachim Kersten, Michele Burman, Jarmo Houtsonen, Paul Herbinger,
Norbert Leonhardmair, and Marion Neunkirchner
Austria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Paul Luca Herbinger, Norbert Leonhardmair, and Marion Neunkirchner
Finland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Jarmo Houtsonen, Marianne Mela, Martta October, and Suvi Nipuli
France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Thierry Delpeuch, Francois Bonnet, and Margarita Vassileva
Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Joachim Kersten and Catharina Vogt
Hungary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Gabor Hera and Dori Szego
Portugal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Sergio Felgueiras, Lúcia Pais, and Paulo Machado
Scotland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Michele Burman, Oona Brooks-Hay, and Ruth Friskney
Slovenia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Branko Lobnikar and Karmen Jereb
Key Findings, Best Practices and Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Joachim Kersten, Michele Burman, and Jarmo Houtsonen
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
ix
Abbreviations
CJS Criminal Justice System
Covid-19 measures Any measure imposed by regional and national public
authorities with reference to the Covid-19 pandemic
DV Domestic Violence
MS Member State(s)
xi
