Sexualised violence

Information on the counseling centers of Victim Support Switzerland: www.opferhilfe-schweiz.ch/en

Definition

The articles of the Swiss Criminal Code (SCC) are available for recording sexualised violence in the police crime statistics (PCS). The term sexualised violence includes offences that involve violence and in particular sexual acts that are threatened, forced or imposed on a minor or adult without their explicit consent and against their will.

Sexualised violence can take place in different forms and contexts. It also includes, among other things, the aspect of exploiting dependency and the exercise of power and dominance.

In the analyses on sexualised violence, the following offences of the Swiss Criminal Code are considered:

• Art. 187 Sexual acts with children
• Art. 188 Sexual acts with dependent persons
• Art. 189 Indecent assault
• Art. 190 Rape
• Art. 191 Sexual acts with persons incapable of judgement or resistance
• Art. 192 Sexual acts with persons in institutional care, prisoners and persons on remand
• Art. 193 Exploitation of a person in a position of need or dependency
• Art. 194 Indecent conduct
• Art. 195 Encouraging prostitution
• Art. 196 Sexual acts with minors against payment
• Art. 198 Sexual harassment

The offence of pornography, Art. 197 SCC, is depicted in the evaluations on digital crime.

Offences

The following chart shows the offences of sexualised violence registered by the police from 2009 to 2023. Detailed data on the individual offences by year, level of completion and level of detection as well as canton can be found in the interactive tables STAT-TAB.

Victims

In total, 4447 victims were registered by the police in 2023. The following chart shows the percentage distribution of the victims by sex and offence.

Accused persons

In total, 3228 accused persons were registered by the police in 2023. The following chart shows the percentage distribution of the accused persons by sex and offence.

Further information

Graphs

Data

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Press releases

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Statistical sources and concepts

Surveys