The number of rapes in August 2022 decreased by 34% compared to the same month last year. In August 2021, 120 cases of rape were reported against 79 this year.

The number of rapes in South Carolina in August decreased by 34% compared to 2021 – Photo: Reproduction

The data was recorded from January 1 to August 31 and included in the Violence Against Women Observatory, an integrated information system on violence against women in the state of Santa Catarina.

In the first eight months of 2022, the total number of rapes was 783, according to the platform. There were 837 records in 2021, equivalent to a 6.4% year-on-year decrease.

2020 had the lowest number of rape cases from January to August: 664. In August of that year, there were 76 cases.

The cities with the most notifications in the eight months of this year are Joinville (66), Florianopolis (56), Chapeco (33), Itajai (29) and San José (27).

The figures do not include records of vulnerable persons being raped, which is an indecent act against a person under the age of 14.

In early June, a young woman was approached by a teenager as she was returning from college in the Pereque area of ​​Porto Belo, on the northern coast of the state. Threatened, the girl was taken to a wasteland and raped. The teenager was detained earlier this month.

Another incident had repercussions on the North Coast this month. A 23-year-old woman six months pregnant reported that a massage therapist raped her during a massage session at a clinic in Itajai. She told the details of the crime in an exclusive interview with NDTV. The case continues to be investigated by the Civil Police.

What does the board say?

A note from the Higher Board of Public Security and Official Forensics said that Santa Catarina is increasingly investing in security and prevention, whether through the civilian police virtual police station or the military police’s Catarina Network.

“Like other indicators, the drop shows that we are still going to do a lot more in a demonstrative and educational way so that women do not become victims of crime,” she says.

Also, according to the board, encouraging victims to file a complaint, as well as people around them, is part of the security policy of the folder. Many cases occur inside the house and do not always fall into the field of view of the security forces.