The number of cases continues to rise – the number of unreported cases is falling

Since 2021, the number of new cases processed by Victim Support beider Basel each year has grown by more than a third. However, this does not mean that there have been more incidents of violence.

The demand for the services offered by Opferhilfe beider Basel is constantly increasing. Last year, 2,584 new dossiers on incidents of violence were opened. This is 13.3% or 303 cases more than in the previous year. This amounts to ten new dossiers per working day. Together with the open dossiers from the previous year, 5,264 dossiers were processed in 2023.

This means that the trend of previous years has accelerated once again. In 2021, the number of cases increased by 9.5%, in 2022 by 9.1 Over the last three years, growth amounted to 35.4%.

Incidents of violence are reported more frequently
Reports of violent incidents in public spaces increased particularly sharply in 2023. We assume that the large increase in cases is not due to more violence in the region. On the contrary, the willingness to report these incidents has increased. This leads to a reduction in the number of unreported cases, which is a positive development. The fact that victims turn more frequently to victim support is also to be understood in the context of raising awareness of the issue of violence at national and regional level. And the socio-political discussion surrounding the new criminal law on sexual offenses has also contributed to this.

• 70% of the people affected by violence in the new dossiers were women, 30% men. The federal statistics only distinguish between these two gender forms.
• 1,099 clients were resident in Basel-Stadt, 1,021 in Basel-Landschaft; 464 are resident in another canton.
• In 975 cases, the crime was committed in Basel-Stadt, in 879 cases in Basel-Landschaft; in 730 cases, the crime was committed in another canton.
• In terms of the type of crime, there was a significant increase in sexual assault/rape, bodily injury, assault and threats/coercion.

Further figures, charts and analyses will be published in the Annual Report in May.

Growing pressure on employees
The growth in cases has led to a very large quantitative and qualitative burden on advisors. In order to cope with the situation, more staff had to be hired and trained than provided for in the multi-year plan. This has led to an increase in personnel costs and a financing deficit for 2023.

Depending on the offense, victim counseling must take place promptly. In this way, the consequential burdens for the people affected can be reduced. For this to be possible, the appropriate resources are needed.