Francisco Javier Curto, a commander for the military police in Seville who oversees gender violence incidents in the province, in his office in the Spanish city on March 30, 2024. The Spanish government announced a major overhaul to a program in which police rely on an algorithm to identify potential repeat victims of domestic violence, after officials faced questions about the system’s effectiveness. — ©2025 The New York Times Company
LONDON: The Spanish government this week announced a major overhaul to a program in which police rely on an algorithm to identify potential repeat victims of domestic violence, after officials faced questions about the system’s effectiveness.
The program, VioGén, requires police officers to ask a victim a series of questions. Answers are entered into a software program that produces a score – from no risk to extreme risk – intended to flag the women who are most vulnerable to repeat abuse. The score helps determine what police protection and other services a woman can receive.
