Working with perpetrators is violence prevention – services must be expanded!

According to the perpetrator intervention statistics published in October 2025 by the Federal Association for Perpetrator Intervention in Domestic Violence (BAG TäHG), more than 5.000 perpetrators of violence, 90 percent of whom were men, were in contact with a perpetrator intervention service in the reporting year 2024. Approximately two-thirds of these individuals actually received counseling.

In contrast, the Federal Report on Domestic Violence recorded over 171.000 cases of violence in intimate partner relationships , with 70,4 percent of the victims being female. Currently, perpetrator intervention programs reach fewer than 2 out of every 100 people who perpetrate domestic violence. The significant preventive potential of such programs thus remains largely untapped.

Only a small proportion of perpetrators of violence access offender support services through instructions from state institutions: The police refer only about six percent, and criminal and family courts only five percent of those who use offender support services. 

It is also alarming that one-fifth of the perpetrators of violence dropped out of the program by the end of the survey period. Roughly the same number completed the offender rehabilitation program – only one in five. 

According to statistics, most programs address physical and psychological violence. Three-quarters of the cases referred involved physical violence, and almost two-thirds involved psychological violence. These forms of violence often occur in combination. In three out of four cases, children were affected, either as direct victims or indirect witnesses to the violence. Therefore, working with perpetrators is always also child protection.

In light of these findings, the FHK (Federal Association of Victims of Violence) demands a massive expansion and better funding of perpetrator intervention programs nationwide. Standardized programs must be mandatory for perpetrators, imposed by the police and youth welfare offices, as well as in family law proceedings and criminal sanctions. Perpetrator intervention must not remain a voluntary, supplementary service, but must be firmly anchored in the violence prevention system.

An important step in this direction is the draft law currently being submitted to parliament for the introduction of electronic monitoring of residence and perpetrator intervention within the framework of the Protection Against Violence Act . For the first time, it provides for the possibility of court-ordered social skills training courses under the Protection Against Violence Act. FHK welcomes this approach but sees a considerable need for improvement: The order must be synchronized with the regulations of child custody law, those affected must be granted a right of veto, and without adequately funded and quality-assured programs, the legal requirements will be ineffective. Currently, there are only 91 institutions nationwide operating according to the standards of the Federal Association for Perpetrator Intervention (BAG Täterarbeit) – far too few to meet the legal requirements.