Toulouse: the worrying increase in viols
Between 2020 and 2021, reports of rape increased by 24% in Haute-Garonne, under the jurisdiction of the Toulouse judicial court. This worrying increase can be explained between unlimited behavior and freedom of speech.
A festive night, too much alcohol, sometimes narcotics and the evening turns into a nightmare. In Toulouse, not a weekend goes by without a victim appearing before the police to report a sexual assault. Since 2018, according to data from the Toulouse prosecutor’s office, reports of rape have more than tripled. “From 213 facts concerning minors, and adults in 2018, we went to 780 in 2021”, specifies the prosecutor Samuel Vuelta-Simon (read interview next page). This trend is reflected in the national data with a general increase after the decreases recorded during the two confinements of 2020.
Why ? For lack of analysis of the files, the prosecutor of Toulouse who says he is “concerned” by this reality, remains cautious about the circumstances of these crimes. The facts concerning minors remain stable. Marital rape, between spouses or cohabitants, is on the rise. The majority remain despite all the heinous rapes, or “opportunity” assaults, in the street like what happened to a young girl in the fall. At the end of a very drunken evening, she was supposed to get into a VTC ordered by her boyfriend but, in reality, she was “embarked” by a predator who raped her. The police investigation made it possible to identify the suspect who was indicted and imprisoned. The instruction follows its course.
780 acts of rape denounced in 2021, three times more than in 2018
“These predators exist, but we see from the files we deal with that the majority of the facts take place between people who know each other more or less, after festive nights with a lot of alcohol, sometimes drugs. A sexual relationship takes place, often without the consent of the other being expressed or even requested, ”warns Samuel Vuelta-Simon. And once in custody, the suspects do not understand the reproaches of the range and the investigations of which they are the object.
“The issue of consent comes up in many files as if ultimately the boys did not ask themselves the question, that the sexual relationship became obvious when they wanted it”, notes a worried psychologist. This pushes the prosecutor to demand “more prevention, education, among college and university students with also the support of the associative fabric”.
The freedom of speech for women, the main victims of these facts, also explains the increase in complaints. An awareness of the ownership of one’s body, of the right to speak, reinforced by the Balance ton porc or Me Too movements. “Professionals know that in all offences, especially sexual offences, there is a dark number. No doubt that the women who did not dare to file a complaint before are more numerous today, estimates the prosecutor. But studies show that the percentage of these silent women remains very high. And also, majority.