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Good practice Imported

Gewaltschutzambulanz — Charité Berlin's Police-Report-Free Forensic Documentation Clinic

Germany · Berlin · See the Germany profile · See the Berlin profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 55% 63/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Since 2014, Charité's Gewaltschutzambulanz has given violence survivors free, court-admissible forensic documentation of injuries without a prior police report; ~13,000 people have used the Berlin clinic, and its model has been replicated in Bremen and other German cities.

13,000
People documented, first decade (2014-2024)
382
People contacting the clinic, first year (2014-2015)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Period
2014–present
Region (NUTS)
DE30
Keywords
domestic violence, sexual violence, forensic medicine, legal documentation, victim support

Context

The Gewaltschutzambulanz (Violence Protection Outpatient Clinic) opened at Charite Berlin on 17 February 2014, offering free, court-admissible forensic documentation of injuries from domestic, sexual, interpersonal and workplace violence and child abuse, without requiring survivors to first file a police report.

Results

In its first year, 382 people contacted the clinic and 175 (109 adults, 66 children) received full forensic documentation. Over its first decade, roughly 13,000 violence-affected people have used the service. Its case records also fed a peer-reviewed study on male victims of intimate-partner violence.

Conclusions

The model has been explicitly replicated in Bremen, Munich, Hamburg, Hannover, Dusseldorf, Heidelberg, Ulm, Freiburg and Stuttgart, though coverage nationally remains uneven (Bavaria has only the single Munich site).

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Charite - Universitatsmedizin Berlin, forensic-medicine clinicians

Conditions for success

  • Police-report-free access preserved for survivors
  • State-level funding to extend coverage to underserved regions

Common failure modes

  • No published study on effect on prosecution/conviction rates or victim safety
  • Uneven national coverage (e.g. single site for all of Bavaria)

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Where it's been adopted

Documented replications and adaptations of this practice elsewhere.

PlaceWhenAdopterOutcome
Bremen, Germany — Gewaltschutzambulanz Bremen Clinic built directly modelled on Charite's.
Munich, Germany — Gewaltschutzambulanz Munich Comparable forensic-documentation clinic opened.
Hamburg, Germany — Gewaltschutzambulanz Hamburg Comparable forensic-documentation clinic opened.
Hannover, Germany — Gewaltschutzambulanz Hannover Comparable forensic-documentation clinic opened.
Dusseldorf, Germany — Gewaltschutzambulanz Dusseldorf Comparable forensic-documentation clinic opened.
Ulm, Germany — Gewaltschutzambulanz Ulm Baden-Wurttemberg state-funded site.
Freiburg, Germany — Gewaltschutzambulanz Freiburg Baden-Wurttemberg state-funded site.
Stuttgart, Germany — Gewaltschutzambulanz Stuttgart Baden-Wurttemberg state-funded site.

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