Problem of criminal legal qualification of domestic violence in law enforcement practice

Abstract

Domestic violence is a phenomenon that can take the form of a socially dangerous act and be qualified as a crime under Art. 126-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and other articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. It is the correctness of the criminal legal qualification of domestic violence that became the subject of our study.              The lack of systematic interpretation of Art. 126-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine leads in practice to the fact that the courts decide completely differently on the qualification of actions of a person. After all, domestic violence can be a manifestation of both an administrative offense and a criminally punishable act. That makes it impossible to further apply the restrictive measures of a criminal legal nature, enshrined in Art. 91-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Such situation has already become the basis for resolution in the order of review by higher courts and formation of a position on the most problematic aspects by the Supreme Court of Ukraine. In particular, in order to avoid the prohibited double conviction or punishment, the proceedings must be combined on a comprehensive basis and form a single whole. This means not only that the goal and the means used to achieve it must complement each other in nature and be linked in time, but also that the possible consequences of such legal response to appropriate behavior must be proportionate and predictable. for the persons to whom they relate.             Thus, the purpose of our study is to form a list of issues for the correct criminal legal qualification of actions under Art. 126-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, for the correct separation from the administrative offense under Art. 173-2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, as well as from other criminal offenses related to domestic violence. The task is to study the conclusions of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, to analyse the case law, to analyse the research conducted by non-governmental international organizations, as well as to analyse the positions of the doctrine of criminal and criminal procedure law on this issue.