ECONOMIC VIOLENCE IN THE FAMILY: YPES AND REASONS FOR USE

Abstract

Based on national legislation on domestic violence, the article examines the concept of domestic violence. A particular attention is paid to economic violence in the family. Any form of violence is associated with the distribution of power between partners and some certain imbalance between them. In a couple, the partner who is emotionally and/or physically stronger and more influential uses violence. Economic violence is associated with the deprivation or restriction of the right to use economic resources, in which one of the partners (more often a woman) feels a threat towards security and emotional comfort, as she is in complete economic dependence on the tyrant partner. Economic violence can manifest itself in the deprivation or restriction of the right to use property, money; imposition of property obligations; transfer of monetary obligations to the victim; the prohibition of employment, which deprives the victim of the possibility of self-realization in the future. These actions may entail mental suffering and a decrease in the mental stability of the victim of violence, which indicates psychological violence and so on. The commission of these actions is violence in the event that the partner whom they were applied to feels psychological suffering, which can lead to a health disorder, emotional dependence or a deterioration in his/her of life’s quality. The reasons for economic violence are the unwillingness of partners to discuss complex issues related to the management of economic resources before starting a relationship; unwillingness of one of the parties to take responsibility for their lives, completely falling under the dependence of the other partner, including in financial matters; violation of the personal boundaries of another partner, the desire to manipulate him/ her and, as a consequence, the dependence of one partner on the other and so on. The criteria for distinguishing between criminally punishable domestic violence and domestic violence as an administrative offense are signs of systematicity and social danger. It is proposed to reveal the content of the forms of domestic violence enshrined in Art. 126–1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, taking into account the content of the objective side of other articles of Section II, IV of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of Ukraine; enforce in the footnote to Art. 126–1 of the Criminal Code definition of the concept of “systematic”.