Economic violence as a way of committing domestic violence: differentiation of administrative offense from crime

Abstract

The article is considered economic violence as a type of domestic violence, for which administrative and criminal liability is provided. The criterion of delimitation of economic violence as a way of committing domestic violence of Art. 173-2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses and Art. 126-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine is defined. It is stated that administrative and criminal liability arises in the case of domestic violence in three ways: physical, psychological or economic. This are caused difficulties in practice in delimiting Art. 173-2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses and Art. 126-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, as the objective side of their composition is defined inexhaustibly.
 Expediency of exclusion from Art. 126-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the notion of “systemicity” is justified, as the current wording contradicts the purpose of criminalizing acts of domestic violence and creates obstacles to the application of this special criminal law. Emphasis is placed on the need for legislative interpretation of the concept of Art. 173-2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses "harm of physical or mental health" and of Art. 126 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine "violence that leads to physical or psychological suffering."
 It was found that in the legal definitions of economic violence and acts of economic nature, the construction "and other economic offenses" and the conjunction "etc." indicates that acts of economic nature as a way of committing domestic violence can not be provided by law exhaustively, because the economy is in constant development and, accordingly, violence in the context of the offense we are investigating may take new forms.
 It is determined that its main feature of economic domestic violence is the manipulation of the subject of the crime or offense by material goods, which leads to negative psychological and/or physical consequences for the victim.
 According to the results of the research, the criterion of differentiation of domestic violence provided by Art. 126-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine from the act specified in Art. 173-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which should be the consequences caused by the illegal act. That is, it is necessary to determine the level of public danger of damage that occurred after the commission of an act of an economic nature, which covers the legislative category of "domestic violence".
 Suggestions for further improvement of legislation in the field of administrative and criminal law on the provisions that establish legal liability for domestic violence in Ukraine.