Domestic Violence Crimes between 2008-2011 in Turkey

Objective: The purpose of this study; by collecting official data from the Ministry of Justice, analysing trends in time and differences among cities and regions. Method: Criminal data was taken from the criminal courts via the Ministry of Justice between 2008 and 2011. Population data was obtained for the Turkish statistical Institute. The data obtained in this context, was analysed and presented with Geographic Information System (GIS). Findings: The highest prevalence of domestic violence has been determined in three central Anatolian cities. Spatial analysis of the domestic violence showed that prevalance values were higher in the northern part of Turkey compared with the eastern part. Domestic violence prevalance values were low in big cities such as Istanbul and Ankara. Conclusion: Our results demonstrated that more developed regions of Turkey had higher frequency of domestic violence. This can be explained by the reporting domestic violence can be higher in more developed regions.