Two victims a day and 46 multiple rapes in the first year with forensic experts on call for sexual violence cases

For the past year, the cities of Barcelona and Hospitalet de Llobregat have had a dedicated on-call forensic service exclusively for victims of sexual violence. The professionals working in this unique service, the only one of its kind in Spain, have carried out 661 interventions during this first year. This means they have attended to an average of two victims per day. Of all the interventions they have performed since February 1, 2025, 46 have involved victims of multiple assaults. The annual tally of 611 interventions represents a 3.9% increase compared to the forensic medical examinations for sexual violence carried out during the previous year, before this specific 24-hour on-call service existed. Until then, examinations of victims of sexual violence were handled by an on-call service that also dealt with other serious incidents. The Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences of Catalonia (IMLCFC), which reports to the Department of Justice, is headquartered in the City of Justice, on the border between Barcelona and Hospitalet. This Sunday, coinciding with its first anniversary, it released data on its on-call service for sexual violence cases. In fact, the upward trend in cases of this crime "has been steadily increasing for years," with the sole exception of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, explained IMLCFC Director Eneko Barberia. Younger women and more men are among the victims.

The majority of victims seen by the forensic experts on this specialized duty are young women under 30. Specifically, the average age is 28.2 years. Although the number of men seen is very small compared to women (representing one in seven victims), the forensic experts are seeing an increasing number of them. Last year, men made up 13.9% of the victims seen, compared to 11.9% the previous year. In total, last year the forensic experts saw 573 women and 88 men. The data collected during 2025 also confirms another trend that the forensic experts had already noticed in previous years. Sexual assaults are increasingly less concentrated in the summer months, as was previously the case, and there are more cases at other times of the year. However, there are still more assaults on weekends, highlighting the correlation between nightlife, alcohol consumption, and sexual violence.

A total of 52 forensic doctors worked on this on-call service, attending to an average of 12.7 cases each. When a victim of sexual assault is treated at a hospital, the professionals alert the on-duty court. With the judge's order, the forensic doctors travel to the hospital to attend to the victim and collect the necessary samples.