Study exposes ‘myth’ of ‘false’ gender abuse claims, with 78 percent of all cases resulting in convictions

Ángeles Carmona, President of the Spanish government's Domestic and Gender Violence Monitor. Photo: EFE
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• Gender violence observer says 78% of all cases resulted in convictions •

The notion that the increase in denunciations of gender violence and domestic abuse in recent years in Spain is the result of “false claims” being filed by women has been debunked by a government study showing that of 500 cases of gender violence prosecuted in the courts from 2012-2014, false evidence was found to be presented just twice — and in each of those cases involved a woman falsifying testimony to protect the man that witnesses said had beaten her.

The study by the Domestic and Gender Violence Commission (Observatorio contra la Violencia Doméstica y de Género) of Spain’s General Council of the Judiciary oversight agency (CGPJ), showed that 78 percent of gender violence and domestic abuse cases heard by Spanish courts during the two-year period resulted in convictions and that in only 0.4 percent of all cases were allegations of false testimony by the woman plaintiff presented.

Ángeles Carmona, president of the CGPJ’s gender violence agency, said the study’s results explode the “total myth” that women in Spain regularly present false claims of violence against men and called for measures to increase the level of protection for women who denounce gender violence from the moment they first file a complaint with police authorities.

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