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BiggerPolice and military agents are the main perpetrators of femicides in the Dominican Republic
Santo Domingo, DR— Active or inactive members of military institutions or the armed forces, such as the National Police and the Army of the Dominican Republic, top the list of the main perpetrators of femicide in the Dominican Republic.
In 2024, there were 73 violent deaths of women, perpetrated by 74 men. Of this group, the majority were police officers and military personnel who took the lives of their partners or ex-partners.
This is revealed in the study “Femicide in the Dominican Republic during 2024: An X-ray of Femicide Violence 2016-2024,” which indicates that the officers used a firearm to commit the crime, and in 67% of the cases, it was their service weapon.
Likewise, 83% of the police officers and military personnel who committed a feminicide in 2024 chose to take their own lives with the same weapon after committing the crime.
They were between the ages of 25 and 30, while their victims were between the ages of 25 and 31.
The investigation points out that next on the list are men who work in the transportation sector, who in 2024 were responsible for four femicides. Seventy-five percent of them used a firearm to take the life of their partner, while two committed suicide after committing the murder.
Orphaned children
The analysis indicates that children and adolescents are one of the populations most affected by femicides, which have physical and emotional consequences.
In 2024, victims of femicide had an average of one to four children, meaning that 77 children or adolescents lost one or both parents.
Similarly, from 2016 to 2024, a total of 1,072 children or adolescents were orphaned by one or both parents. Of these, 524 were children of women victims of femicide; 418 were children of perpetrators; and 130 were children in common.
In 9% of cases, the femicide was committed in the presence of the children. In addition, 21 children were killed in the midst of a violent conflict between their parents.
In the last nine years, this type of violence has claimed the lives of 779 women, girls, and adolescents in the Dominican Republic. The majority were employees of private companies, Government employees, health personnel, and police officers, among others.
Sad. As a Dominican myself, I was taught that “we men are king of the castle”. What a crock. That may have worked back in the days of Balaguer but not today. To me in this world we Dominicans are behind the times and need to adjust. First, stop saying diabl*. What you call out you attract. It’s all about energies. When you give off arrogance, you’ll get it back in your face 10 fold. We Dominicans need to humble ourselves and get with the times. We all have to know our role of fall. It’s really that simple. Shared responsibility not dominace.
Unfortunately, this is what happens when you give the uneducated a badge and a gun. We have a lot of growing to do as a country.
My take: Asking them a simple question like “Why did you join the army or police force” and making sure they are holding that truth they said will start weeding out bad actors who joined in just to abuse their power and give them a dishonorable discharge.
This asks the question, what is it in the the police and armed forces that influenced the behavior of their members to commit the femicides? Could it be a certain nature of those who enlist for service motivates the decisions of overseers to take them in?