KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 23 – Domestic violence constituted the highest number of sexual crime cases against women accounting for 52.7 per cent (4,672) and 46.26 per cent (4,294) respectively of sexual crimes against women in 2022 and 2023, according to the recently released Statistics on Women Empowerment in Selected Domains 2024 report by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
While total sexual crimes against both women and men dipped slightly by 2.45 per cent from 11,199 cases in 2022 to 10,925 cases in 2023, total sexual crimes against women inched up by 2.79 per cent from 9,031 cases in 2022 to 9,283 cases in 2023.
Women also made up the overwhelming majority of sexual crime victims, comprising 80.64 per cent of all cases (9,031) in 2022 and 84.97 per cent of all cases (9,283) in 2023.
After domestic violence, rape and physical assault were the sexual crimes most committed against women.
Rape cases made up 16.83 per cent (1,520) of all sexual crimes against women in 2022 and 18.36 per cent (1,705) in 2023.
There were 924 cases (10.32 per cent) of physical assault against women in 2022 and 1,273 cases (13.71 per cent) in 2023.
While the number of cases seem small in comparison, there were a number of drastic increases in some cases like stalking, which had no reported cases in 2022 among both women and men, but recorded 20 cases with female victims and one case with a male victim in 2023.
While it was not inferred as the cause in the report, Section 507A of the Penal Code, which criminalises stalking, came into force on May 31, 2023, could be ascribed as the reason for the surge in reported stalking cases.
The number of pornography cases involving female victims also rose quite significantly by 333.33 per cent, from six cases in 2022 to 26 cases in 2023.
Non-physical sexual assault against women also registered a substantial incease of 73.91 per cent from 2022 (46) to 2023 (80).
Domestic violence was also the sexual crime most committed against men in both 2022 and 2023, accounting for 82 per cent (1,778) and 73.87 per cent (1,213) respectively of all sexual crimes against male victims.
