Albanian courts and police saw a significant increase in the number of charges brought for cases of domestic violence and rape in 2021, according to the Prosecutor’s Office yearly report.
Domestic Violence
In the Albanian Criminal Code, domestic violence falls under “criminal acts against children, marriage, and the family.” Such crimes accounted for 5.25% of all crimes in Albania during 2021, versus 4.85% in 2020.
That is an instance of 52,6 such crimes per 100,000 inhabitants.
According to the report, there was a 10.13% increase in victims bringing charges for domestic violence to the police, and a 13.12% increase in the number of cases brought to trial.
Likewise, the number of defendants brought to trial increased by 14.5% and the number of convicted defendants went up 24.8%.
The Prosecutor’s Office found that 93% of defendants are men, 1.43% underage boys, and 7% adult women.
53.5% held an elementary school diploma or lower, and 40.37% had only a high school diploma. 68.8% of defendants were unemployed, and a little more than half lived in a city.
The majority of cases (86.5%) were first time denunciations.
Sex Crimes
On the matter of sex crimes, including rape, the report found a 16.8% increase in the number of cases registered by the police. It also reported a sharp increase of 48.2% in the number of cases brought to trial compared to 2020.
Sex crimes accounted for 0.56% of crimes in Albania during 2021, a slight uptick from 2020 (0.49%).
96.7% of defendants are men, with teenage boys (14-18 years old) accounting for 5.65% of defendants.
An increase in the instances of both domestic violence and rape matches global trends on the rampant rise of gender-based violence in the times of COVID.
At the same time, it can be hard to measure the real expanse of these crimes, given that many go unreported. Given this, an increase in the number of reports may signal simply an increase in the number of victims willing to press charges.
