New approach to domestic violence
Antwerp province is to take a revolutionary new approach to the problem of domestic violence starting next year, the public prosecutor for the area announced. The system known as CO3, or Client Organisation 3, takes a three-pronged approach to the problem, from the point of view of police and the justice system, aid organisations, and the local authority.
Under the system, prosecutor Herman Dams explained, each case of domestic violence would be examined from the three points of view to determine the action required, whether it was therapeutic or judicial. The aim is to get away from the old system where each agency operated in isolation from the others. “That time is over,” said Dams. “We will sit down with all the parties together and get to work on finding a solution to the problems of the whole family.”
The project will start with about 100 case files in the Antwerp area, with a view to extending to the whole province later. The number of reports of domestic violence doubled in Antwerp between 2007 and 2010, for three main reasons, Dams said: an increase in violence in society, a greater readiness of victims to make a report, and better training of police officers, who now file a report for every incident.
Across the country, the increase in cases over the same period was 11.7%, justice minister Stefaan De Clerck reported in an answer to senator Sabine De Bethune. In 2010 there were a total of 50,095 reports, 3.9% more than in 2009. Over the three-year period, the judicial area with most reports was Ghent with 11.4% of the national total, followed by Dendermonde and Charleroi. The most common cause of reports were assaults, custody problems and stalking. Only one report in 10 ever reaches the courts, with 73% of those ending in a conviction.
