Lanzarote closed 2021 with a total of 432 complaints of gender violence registered in the Island's Court, which is 0.47% more than in 2020, when 430 were counted.
Complaints of gender violence registered in the judicial bodies of the Canary Islands during the past year 2021 increased by 0.9% compared to 2020. If two years ago the courts of the Islands had registered 8,926 complaints of sexist violence, in 2021 the number was 9,002, 76 more, according to data released by the Observatory against Domestic and Gender Violence of the General Council of the Judiciary.
The increase in sexist crime in the Canary Islands is much lower than that registered in the entire national territory, where the number of complaints increased by 9.35%.
During the past year, the different courts of Fuerteventura registered 500 complaints of crimes of violence against women; in those of Gran Canaria, 3,956; in those of El Hierro, 20; in La Gomera, 32; in La Palma 303, and in Tenerife, 3,732. In the vast majority of cases, crimes of injury and mistreatment were reported.
According to official data, the Canary Islands registered a rate of 86.6 women victims of gender violence per 10,000 women last year, the fourth highest in the State after the Balearic Islands (103), Murcia (88.9) and the Valencian Community (86.6).
The figure represents an increase of 1.1 points compared to the ratio of the previous year (1.4%), although the comparison shows that the Archipelago fell one place in the ranking of the communities most punished by sexist violence: from third in 2020 to fourth in 2021.
The national average was 66 women victims of sexist violence per 10,000 women, 15.6 points below the Canary Islands ratio.
The Observatory report offers more data: of the 8,971 women victims of violence in the Canary Islands, 7,282 were Spanish, 12 of them being minors, and 1,689 were foreign. 971 of the victims availed themselves during the processing of the process to the dispensation to the obligation to testify against their alleged aggressor, 15.2% less than in the previous year, when 1,145 women had not confirmed the complaints.
During the past year, the Canary Islands judicial bodies that judged cases of gender violence issued 2,522 convictions, which translates into 11.7% more than in 2020; 226 acquittals, 18.9% more than in the previous year; 518 free dismissal orders, a reduction of 1.7%; and 3,037 orders for provisional dismissal of the proceedings, a higher percentage of 6.2%.
On the other hand, the percentage of convictions was 91.8%, 0.5% less than the previous year, and that of termination by provisional dismissal, 85.4%, 1.2% more than in 2020.
With regard to defendants, last year 2,818 people sat on the bench in the Canary Islands for sexist crimes, 14.7% more than in 2020, with 91.6% being convicted, 0.3% less than the previous year. Of all of them, 2,083 were Spanish citizens and 497 were foreigners.
With regard to protection orders, the Canary Islands courts registered 1,876 requests last year, 15.7% less than in 2020. Of these, the courts rejected 26, adopted 1,448 and denied 402.
