What Exists — What Works — What’s Missing

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1. Is There an EU-Wide Domestic Abuser Database?

Short answer: NO.

There is no single EU-wide public or police-accessible registry of domestic abuse perpetrators.

However, the EU mandates data collection, risk assessment, and protection order tracking through:

• European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE)
• EU Victims’ Rights Directive
• EU Directive 2024/1385 on Violence Against Women & Domestic Violence (May 2024)

This requires all Member States to collect, share, and standardise data, but implementation remains national, not centralised. 

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2. National High-Risk Offender Monitoring Systems

🇪🇸 Spain — VioGén + COMETA GPS Monitoring

Europe’s most advanced system

VioGén System

Spain operates VioGén, a national police database and risk prediction system for domestic abuse offenders.

It:

• Assesses offender lethality risk using 35 structured risk indicators
• Categorises danger as negligible → low → medium → high → extreme
• Links police, courts, prosecutors, and victim protection services

This system tracks perpetrators and risk levels nationally, not just locally. 

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COMETA GPS Monitoring Programme

Spain also uses GPS electronic tagging for high-risk perpetrators, linked directly to VioGén.

Results:

• Zero domestic homicide fatalities among protected victims
• Rapid police response times (5–7 minutes)
• Strong deterrence effect

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🇵🇹 Portugal — National GPS Domestic Abuse Monitoring

Portugal operates a reverse-tagging system:

• GPS monitoring of offenders
• Exclusion zones around victims
• Real-time police alerts

This is used post-arrest, post-conviction, and during restraining orders. 

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🇩🇪 Germany — Electronic Monitoring + Police Risk Systems

Germany:

• Uses GPS ankle tagging for high-risk domestic abusers
• Integrates court orders into state police intelligence systems
• Uses federal police databases (INPOL) to track violent offenders

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3. Protection Order Registries & Police Databases (Most EU States)

All EU countries maintain police & court databases recording:

• Arrests
• Convictions
• Protection orders
• Restraining orders
• Bail conditions
• Risk assessments

However:
❌ No public access
❌ Poor cross-border data sharing
❌ Fragmented regional systems

The EU is now mandating harmonised administrative data collection through EIGE. 

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4. Cross-Border Protection Orders (EU-Wide)

Europe DOES operate mutual recognition of protection orders, meaning:

If a survivor moves across EU borders, their restraining order must remain enforceable in the new country.

This uses:

• European Protection Order (EPO) System
• Cross-border law enforcement cooperation

But:
❌ This does not create a shared offender registry
❌ It only transfers protective measures, not offender tracking

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5. Integrated Multi-Agency Databases (Selective Countries)

Some countries operate joined-up risk databases linking:

• Police
• Courts
• Healthcare
• Social services
• Domestic violence agencies

Example:
🇹🇷 Turkey has built a multi-agency domestic violence database integrating:

• Law enforcement
• Judiciary
• Health services
• Social care

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6. Why Europe Has No Domestic Abuser Registry

Key reasons:

🔹 Data Protection Laws (GDPR)

Europe prioritises:

• Privacy
• Rehabilitation
• Proportionality

This makes public offender registries politically and legally controversial.

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🔹 Rehabilitation Philosophy

European justice models emphasise:

• Reintegration
• Behaviour change
• Desistance

Public registries are seen as:

Permanently punitive → counterproductive to rehabilitation

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🔹 Risk of Vigilantism & Misuse

Concerns about:

• Harassment
• Violence
• False accusations
• Misidentification

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7. What Europe DOES Well — And Where It Fails

Area	Status
Risk assessment systems	⚠ Fragmented
GPS monitoring	✅ Spain, Portugal, Germany
National offender databases	⚠ Partial
Cross-border safety	⚠ Limited
Public transparency	❌ Minimal
High-risk offender tracking	⚠ Inconsistent
Post-separation protection	❌ Weak

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8. The Critical Gap: Predictive Risk Intelligence

Europe still lacks:

• A central high-risk offender alert system
• Cross-border lethality risk sharing
• Unified coercive control tracking
• EU-wide domestic homicide prediction framework

This is why repeat offenders easily relocate and reoffend.

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9. Best Practice Model: Spain

Spain currently operates Europe’s gold-standard domestic abuse monitoring system:

• National risk algorithm (VioGén)
• GPS offender tagging (COMETA)
• Rapid police response
• Centralised data
• Multi-agency coordination

Result:

Zero domestic homicides among women under GPS protection

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10. Strategic Reform Direction (EU Policy Recommendation)

Europe urgently needs:

• EU-wide high-risk offender alert system
• Centralised coercive control tracking
• Standardised lethality risk scoring
• Cross-border offender monitoring protocols
• Mandatory post-separation surveillance for high-risk cases

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Bottom Line

Europe does monitor domestic abusers, but:

Fragmented systems + national silos + limited data sharing = preventable deaths

Spain proves:

When monitoring is intelligent, integrated, and enforced — lives are saved.