Men's violence against women begins early

Last year, 22 women were murdered by their boyfriend, spouse or partner. In the same year, around 16,000 cases of domestic abuse were reported. The development has led the police to act.

- Within the police, there has long been talk of violence in close relationships as a priority area, but I and many people with me did not think that seemed real, says Varg Gyllander.

He is part of the police operative management group for Initiativ dawn - an investment of SEK 70 million which has meant about 90 new employees during the autumn. The goal is to stop men's violence against women. The name - dawn - refers to the police wanting to see a brightening in the dark.

But that is not going fast enough, says Zandra Kanakaris, president of the Unizon Women's Youth Federation and general secretary of the foundation 1,000 opportunities, which are aimed at young people.

- It is an incredible frustration that this is one of our biggest societal problems and that, among other things, the police have not taken it seriously enough. That there were 22 women killed last year should have generated a number of measures directly, such as gang crime, says Zandra Kanakaris.

The problems begin early, Kanakaris points out. Every fifth youth aged 16-24 has been subjected to crimes by a current or former partner - and young girls more often state that they have been subjected to violence in a close relationship than women over 25, according to the Crime Prevention Council (Brå).

"A woman abuser does not suddenly start beating when he is 45," she says.

In 2016 and 2017, the National Board of Health investigated 21 cases where a person was killed in connection with violence in close relationships. Eighteen of them were women who were killed by men they were or had previously been in a relationship with.

16 of the victims had had contact with at least two authorities within a year before his death, without any help.

- What was most clear, and what surprised me a little, was that the violence was not detected. Many had been subjected to violence by the same perpetrator before and had a wide range of contacts with different community actors, says Carina Hällberg, one of the investigators behind the report.