One in five men who abuse in Spain have been there before, according to the Interior Ministry, which this periodical reached. Now there are still 81,291 offenders of this type in the system, who are technically called “persistent or multiple,” and their presence has increased by 58.3% over a decade, from 13.9% in 2015 to 22% in 2025. “This growth indicates a structural development and support for the phenomenon, despite the paradoxically low rates of recidivism,” the Ministry of Interior said. This reality led the ministry’s experts in the field of sexual violence to establish Specific detection and prevention mechanisms within the VioGén system, which tracked victims and perpetrators of sexual violence.
This reality also led to the fact that the Secretary of State for Security, Rafael Pérez, signed instructions in February 2023 so that police forces can warn women victims of sexual violence when the attacker has a record of abusing other husbands in the past. If there ever was one, since 2007, when the VioGén system went live, it was something below the standards of the agent responsible for each case. Between 2007 and 2023, 6,959 of these reports were announced; Since internal instructions to date 19,659. Total 26,618.
However, the warning is not being circulated. From the department headed by Fernando Grande-Marlaska, they explained that this depends “on the assessment made by police experts regarding the circumstances of each case.” This means that this is done when “these conditions pose a particular risk factor for women and for people who depend on them”, such as their daughters. Making this connection with women is not easy. “From now on” this conversation must have “specialized personnel,” says Javier de Pedro, chief commissioner of the National Police’s UFAM (Specialized Team on Sexual Violence).
“It is necessary to understand the process that the victim suffers when he is the subject of violence, and that he will suffer in the continuation when he transmits something about his attacker,” she believes, leaving prison behind a conviction that other previous victims had. Pedro believes this is done when he understands that this is “essential information for their protection, because they themselves are also taking personal measures to be safer.”
Before that, De Pedro mentioned that in the police they know that in the face of information they can “revive” violence, which is why “it’s a balancing act, between the need for security and the great emotional discomfort that comes with knowing that.” They only make contact after they consider it “absolutely necessary, so that they are aware of the situation and for their own protection.”
Repeat offenders: more violence and death threats
According to the study, which states that the Home Office has a number of such abusers, “they represent a particularly harmful profile of gender-based violence: men who victimize more than one woman in a short period of time, initiate violence early in each relationship and maintain a sequential pattern of aggression.” Moreover, “you cannot start from scratch” when you have a new couple, but they “withdraw and deepen their violent strategies, with a gradual escalation, both in physical and psychological violence.”
More intense violence is also observed. “They present more physical violence, more threats (generals) and more death threats, with an increase in risk of up to 17%. They also appear with greater frequency control, extremist cells and harassment, with increases of 15% to 20% compared to other aggressors,” they explain from the Ministry. “On the other hand, the proportion of perpetrators of sexual violence against spouses is about 8%,” they say.
Multiple victims: 21% of women in the system
Just as abusers can have multiple victims, there are women who can have multiple abusers. According to data from the Interior Ministry, in the system “21% of victims had previously been registered for violence committed by other perpetrators”, called polyvictims or multi-victims, and their average age was 35.5 years compared to 37.5 years which was the average age for victims with a lone perpetrator.
Compared to other victims, they suffer “more physical violence, more physical or mental health problems, and a crucial indicator: addiction and drug use are three times more frequent than victims with a single perpetrator.”
They also represent, as the Ministry explains, a greater risk of exposure to sexual violence, and “a level of personal, familial and social vulnerability that sometimes accompanies them since childhood.” These cases are considered, according to the Ministry of Interior, “a prominent priority in police work protocols in cases of sexual violence.”
Phone number 016 responds to victims of sexual violence, their families and those around them 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, in 53 different languages. The number is not registered on the phone bill, but the call on the device must be cleared. You can also contact us via email 016-online@igualdad.gob.es And through WhatsApp on 600 000 016. Minors can call the Fundación ANAR phone number 900 20 20 10. If it is an emergency, you can call 112 or the phone numbers of the National Police (091) and the Civil Guard (062). If you cannot connect, you can use the ALERTCOPS application, through which an alert signal is sent to the police with geolocation.