Practice of bringing to criminal liability on Article 126-1 of Criminal Code and ways of increasing its efficiency

Abstract

In connection with the ratification of the Convention of the Council of Europe on the prevention of violence against women and domestic violence and the fight against these phenomena (Istanbul Convention), the issue of the practice of prosecution under Art. 126-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The article notes that the problem of combating domestic violence constantly attracts the attention of not only forensic scientists, but also judges, lawyers, and human rights defenders. Statistical data on the number of cases of domestic violence were considered. It is emphasized that when interpreting the concept of "criminal offenses related to domestic violence", referring to them only Art. 126-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine is not entirely correct and correct, since the concept of "domestic violence" enshrined in the Council of Europe Convention on the prevention of violence against women and domestic violence and the fight against these phenomena and the Law of Ukraine of December 7, 2017 No. 2229-VIII "On prevention and combating domestic violence" is broader than the law of Ukraine on criminal liability. The existing approaches to the interpretation of such a mandatory feature of the composition of a criminal offense as "systematic perpetration of physical, psychological or economic violence" were studied and the lack of unity in judicial practice regarding its interpretation was noted. Attention is focused on the decision of the Supreme Court dated February 25, 2021 in case No. 583/3295/19, where its interpretation is given and problematic issues of the use of this decision by the courts are considered. A conclusion was drawn on the need to generalize judicial practice (as of November 6, 2022 – the total number of verdicts in the first instance is 2,137) and to take into account the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in this category of cases when sentencing.