Femicide, intimate partner violence and legal complaints in Spain

Intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) is a health problem of epidemic proportions throughout the world, and also in Spain. This violence has consequences on health and may even result in death (e.g. intimate partner femicides). Unfortunately, many cases of IPVAW are not reported, and legal complaints of violent abuse are not made in all cases. In fact, in Europe, only about one-third of the victims of partner violence (and only about 26% in Spain) had previously contacted either the police or any other organization. And the available information reveals a similar lack of previous legal complaints in the case of intimate partner femicides. This work focuses on analysing intimate partner femicides in Spain, reflecting on the low reporting rates of legal complaints observed in these cases, and on the reasons why intimate partner femicide victims have or have not filed a previous complaint. Particularly, we present and analyse secondary data about the occurrence of this type of femicide, and about the rates of legal complaints in these cases. We also reflect on strategies to improve the knowledge about why victims of intimate partner femicide have not filed a previous complaint.