Crime Statistics: Domestic Violence Up, Overall Crime Down
By Tea Mariamidze
Monday, January 22
(TBILISI) - January-September 2017 statistics of Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) reads that crime rate in general decreased in the country but there is some increase in domestic violence.
In 9 months of last year, a total of 27.568 crimes were recorded by MIA. The number is 278 crimes less compared to the crime committed in 9 months of 2016. According to Georgia’s National Statistics Office (Geostat), in the first three quarters of 2016 (January-September) a total of 27.846 crimes were registered.
As for specifically domestic violence statistics, in the period of January-September 2017, 1439 cases of domestic violence were recorded by MIA, which is 83 cases more compared to the same period of 2016.
In 9 months of 2017, the Ministry of Internal Affairs issued 3,137 restrictive orders on domestic violence while in 2016 2,910 orders were issued. This number was lower in 2015-2.598, in2014 – 817 orders and in 2013-227.
Last month, Georgia’s Public Defender Nino Lomjaria spoke about “alarming” statistics of femicide in 2017 – 22 cases in 9 months. She stressed the number of attempted murders was also high in 2017. Eight cases out of 11 observed were identified as domestic violence.
MIA claims that addressing the law-enforcers on domestic violencehas increased, and not the cases themselves. The ministry assures they properly react to all cases of violence, adding it is the priority direction of MIA.
As for the crime categories, the MIA statistics show that last year most frequent crimes were psychological violence, physical abuse and economic violence.
Moreover, the statistics show that most common crime is against property, which includes robbery, theft, burglary, fraud, extortion.
It is followed by a crime against health, which includes intentional severe and less severe injuries to health, domestic violence, beating. In the third place comes drug crime. 2016 crime statistics looked nearly the same.
