Legal regulation of counteraction to domestic violence in Russia and Germany: comparative analysis

Abstract

The subject. The article considers a study of regulation of countering domestic violence in Russia and Germany. The author investigates the draft of Russian federal law "On the prevention of domestic crimes" No. 1183390-6 and the law of Germany "On civil protection from acts of violence and persecution" as well as federal and lands’ legislation in this sphere. Purpose of the study. The comparative study aims to identify the reasons for the draft’s unviability in Russian Federation, in particular, and to search for legislative opportunities to solve the domestic crime’s problems in Russia, in general.Methodology. The article is based on the comparative legal method. Due to this method, the article describes the legal protections against domestic violence in Russia and Germany (at the level of the federation and states), the advantages and disadvantages of each system.The main results. The legal measures in Germany as well as the draft federal law in the Russian Federation contain protective measures that can be applied by police and court. The main feature of German measures from Russian ones is the possibility of temporary violator’s ejection from the occupied housing by issuing a judicial or police order. The simplicity of the procedure allows а victim to receive effective help at any time, even at night and on non-working days. The article analyses the allowability of these measures to the offender from the point of view of basic rights’ interference; notes the position of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany about the police order on temporary eviction: the residence ejection is allowable only when the measure aims at preventing criminal acts. The article draws attention to the technique’ defects of the Russian draft federal law "On the prevention of domestic crimes" No. 1183390-6, which require correction in order to improve the domestic violence’ counteraction in Russia.Сonclusions. It is concluded that in the Russian Federation it is necessary to differentiate heterogeneous phenomena in the law, such as victim’s protection from domestic violence and preventive family relationships’ measures, unreasonably mixed together in the draft federal law "On the prevention of domestic crimes" No. 1183390-6. Besides the law about victim’s protection from acts of violence and persecution should include significant consequences exactly for the violator. In this regard, the German multi-level protection system consisting of police protective measures, preliminary judicial measures as well as judicial measures can be applied. German practice makes it possible to react quickly to an act of domestic violence and provide the necessary victim’s support. The experience of applying the police order on the temporary eviction in Germany as well as violator rights’ interference may be appropriate for use in Russia.