Criminal Domestic Violence Research Articles

Problematic aspects of criminal prosecution for domestic violence

mestic violence.The article is devoted to the analysis of the features of bringing criminal responsibility for committing domestic violence. It has been proven that the establishment of criminal responsibility for committing domestic violence is important for the following reasons: firstly, from the point of view of protecting the rights of victims, since domestic violence is one of the most serious forms of violation of rights, it endangers social values, such behavior can encroach on mental and physical health, honor, dignity, sexual freedom and sexual integrity; secondly, its establishment is part of Ukraine’s international obligations; thirdly, when domestic violence is criminalized, victims are more likely to seek help from law enforcement agencies, they are certain that their complaints will be carefully considered and their rights will be protected; fourth, criminalizing domestic violence helps prevent illegal behavior. At the same time, there are still certain problematic aspects related to bringing criminal responsibility for committing domestic violence. The mentioned actualizes the research of the chosen issue.Special attention is paid to the importance of the Convention of the Council of Europe on the prevention of violence against women and domestic violence and the fight against these phenomena of 11.05.2011 in the establishment of criminal liability for the commission of domestic violence and the changes made to criminal and criminal procedural legislation in connection with bringing the legislation into compliance with the norms of the Convention.The statistical information of appeals regarding domestic violence and criminal proceedings considered by the court was analyzed. The problematic aspects of criminal responsibility for committing domestic violence include: 1.Establishing the systematicity of domestic violence. 2. Inefficient investigation. 3. Attribution of domestic violence to cases of private prosecution.It was concluded that the criminalization of domestic violence is a significant step on the way to European integration, Ukraine’s fulfillment of international obligations, and protection of victims of domestic violence. Taking into account the shortcomings and challenges that have arisen in connection with bringing guilty persons to criminal responsibility, it is proposed to carry out the following measures: firstly, the development of a clear judicial practice in the matter of establishing systematicity as a sign of a criminal offense provided for in Article 126-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, secondly, the formation of a non- discriminatory attitude towards victims among law enforcement officers and, in general, the formationof intolerance to any manifestations of domestic violence in society; third, the exclusion of domestic violence and crimes related to domestic violence from private prosecution cases.

A Study on the Application of Criminal Domestic Violence to Cases of Elder Abuse Under the Elderly Welfare Act

A Study on the Application of Criminal Domestic Violence to Cases of Elder Abuse Under the Elderly Welfare Act

Social conditioning of norms on criminal liability for domestic violence

The scientific article is devoted to a comprehensive study of the theoretical and practical aspects of the features of criminal prosecution for domestic violence. The issue of committing is a domestic violence considered relevant in the theory of criminal law. The paper analyzes the national legislation of Ukraine and the practice of its application, the views of scientists and the clarification of the higher court about the variability qualifications of domestic violence.
 There is a public danger of domestic violence, which is reflected in the norms of the national and international legislation. Particular attention is paid to clarifying the punishment for domestic violence and restrictive measures against perpetrators of domestic violence.
 It was found that the criminalization of domestic violence is conditionedon the following grounds: firstly, the significant level of public danger of this crime; secondly, the significant prevalence of this shameful phenomenon both in Ukraine and in other countries of the world; thirdly, the need for criminal protection of social relations that ensure health in the family; fourthly, the impossibility of successfully counteracting domestic violence only by administrative and legal means. It is these reasons in the modern conditions of the development of society that sufficiently reflect the necessity of providing in the Criminal Code of Ukraine a criminal law norm that establishes criminal liability for domestic violence. The criminalization of domestic violence is quite justified and justified. The grounds for criminalization are the increased public danger of inflicting physical, psychological and economic violence against a loved one or a family member, the socially dangerous consequences of the said act, the extreme prevalence and dynamics of the said act, the need for criminal-legal protection of the constitutional human right to health care in the family, the impossibility of effectively countering domestic violence in a less repressive way. Key words: domestic violence, restrictive measures, regularity, economic violence, physical violence, psychological violence, sexual violence.

Pragmatic Punitiveness: The Institutionalization of Criminal Domestic Violence Protection Orders

This paper analyzes the implementation of a domestic violence law in Minnesota that, in 2006, made the violation of a Domestic Abuse No-Contact Order a felony-level offense. Since this legal change, the rate of conviction for Domestic Abuse No-Contact Order felonies skyrocketed with stark racial disparities among Black and Native American residents, relative to Whites. Analysis of case files reveals that Domestic Abuse No-Contact Order convictions result from a range of behaviors, from seemingly mutual contact between the defendant and protected party to serious physical violence. We argue that the Domestic Abuse No-Contact Order law facilitates pragmatic punitiveness for legal actors. It is easier for prosecutors to demonstrate contact occurred than to prove domestic assault. Yet, the penalty for a Domestic Abuse No-Contact Order is as severe as the penalties for other domestic abuse-related crimes in Minnesota. Thus, the Domestic Abuse No-Contact Order law enables prosecutors to respond forcefully to domestic violence while avoiding additional burdens on their time and resources.

Domestic violence: Evidence-based policies before and during the pandemic in Greece

Domestic violence and gender-based violence has been studied and recognised for many years in Greece. Adequate legislation on the criminalization of domestic violence has been implemented since 2006 (Law 3500/2006 on the Confrontation of Domestic Violence). A network of support services has also operated across the country for many years, staffed with professionals trained in the gender-sensitive perspective. However, Greece still faces the impact of the economic crisis that started in 2010 and the critical aspects of the crisis from the reduction of the public budget imposed by the European institutions in the lives of the individuals, the victims and the providers of the social services have not been fully assessed yet. The COVID-19 pandemic created problems in the victims? access to social services and not only. The shadow pandemic describes the alarm on the increase of domestic violence during the pandemic and the isolation of the victims from the providers of social and psychological support. Addressing both the issue of domestic violence through a victim-centered approach before and during the pandemic in Greece and the need for the implementation of evidence-based policies are the general aims of the paper. To this, we present few findings from an original victimological online research on domestic violence during the first lockdown in the country (March to May 2020) and we justify the need for the implementation of evidence-based policies in the criminal justice system in Greece.

‘We condemn abusing violence against women’. The criminalization of domestic violence in Poland: „Potępiamy nadużywanie przemocy wobec kobiet”. O kryminalizacji przemocy domowej w Polsce

One can often hear Polish politicians saying there is no violence against women in Poland, since Polish men respect their women and women hold a strong position in Polish culture. The conviction rates for domestic abuse in Poland are indeed low, though the attrition rates are high. Every year, for approximately 75,000 registered cases of domestic violence, there are roughly 10,000 convictions. Most of the prison sentences are conditionally suspended. Protective orders or other punitive measures are seldom handed down. There is a visible reluctance on the part of the criminal justice system to punish and correct domestic abusers. One of the reasons is that domestic abuse provisions in the Polish Penal Code (Article 207 of the Polish Penal Code from 1997) criminalises a very different behaviour than is defined in the Counteracting Family Violence Act from 2005. Another, possibly even greater, reason is the culture of sentencing (both in general and of domestic abuse) within the Polish judiciary and the very strong conservatism of Polish decision-makers and society. The protection of family values by legislators and the judiciary is often enforced at the expense of the victims’ right to life and to a life free from violence. This article discusses the Polish system for preventing domestic violence, which was set up in 2005 and the construction and jurisprudence of crime described in Article 207 of the Polish Penal Code. In particular, the question of culpability raises many problems when it comes to prosecution. First, we must compare Article 207 with the definition of ‘family violence’ specified inthe Counteracting Family Violence Act and the Istanbul Convention. Then, I will explain how such an understanding and interpretation of Article 207 translates into the dynamics of sentencing and penal decision-making and the virtual ineffectiveness of both penal provisions (the lack of deterrent effect) and the system of counteracting family violence designed by lawmakers.

Faktor Penyebab Terjadinya Kekerasan Dalam Rumah Tangga Dan Upaya Penanggulangannya

In practice pukum enforcement in Indonesia, the rules of law which are used in penangulangan domestic violence is not just limited to the provisions in the Book of Criminal Law (Penal Code) and Act No.. 23 Year 2002 on Child Protection. As for the articles about crime in the Penal Code which can be used against perpetrators of domestic violence are the provisions that define the special requirements to be the occurrence of criminal acts such as the relationship of father and son or mother and child, as well as the articles that are not determine the presence of these special requirements. Some of the acts that included the scope of domestic violence and has been formulated as a criminal act in Article 304-309 of the Criminal Code is that it formulates a crime against children, Article 356 Paragraph 1, which regulates criminal acts against women as a wife who is only limited to physical violence. Article 285-296 of the Criminal Code governing rape and lewd acts, not fully accommodate other forms of sexual violence and other forms of outside approval. The violence causes violence in the household is the economic factor, namely the demands of subsistence resulting in frequent occurrence of violence, excessive jealousy of the wife or husband, excessive emotions or the hardness of the husband to his wife, a view which assumes that men males higher degree than women. Besides the lack of legal knowledge as well be the cause of domestic violence as for prevention efforts undertaken is an effort perfentif and prevention efforts are refresif namely prevention efforts undertaken after the occurrence of criminal domestic violence.

Is Firearm Threat in Intimate Relationships Associated with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms Among Women?

In the context of intimate partner violence (IPV), firearms may be used to threaten, coerce, and intimidate. Yet, what little research exists on firearms among IPV victims has focused almost exclusively on homicide or near homicide. Thus, the deleterious health consequences of firearms more broadly remain unknown. The goals of the current study were (1) to document the prevalence of firearm threat in a community sample of female IPV victims, and (2) to identify the extent to which threat with a firearm, independent of other forms of IPV, is related to women's posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity. Participants were 298 women who had been a victim in a criminal domestic violence case with a male intimate partner (Mage = 36.39 years; 50.0% African American; 51.3% unemployed). Retrospective data on firearm threat, fear of firearm violence, other IPV victimization (i.e., physical, psychological, and sexual), and PTSD symptoms were collected during in-person individual interviews. Approximately one-quarter of the sample (24.2%) experienced threat with a firearm during the course of their relationship, and 12.5% were afraid that their partners would use a firearm against them in the 30 days prior to the study interview. Firearm threat and fear of firearm violence emerged as significant and unique predictors of PTSD symptom severity, controlling for age and physical, psychological, and sexual IPV victimization severity. The findings underscore firearm threat as a key factor for identifying and intervening with criminal justice involved women who experience IPV.

Understanding Female Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration, Parenting Attitudes, and Batterer Intervention Program Completion

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of parenting attitudes and widely used indicators of intimate partner violence perpetration on program completion in a sample of women required to attend a 26-week batterer intervention program. Methods: This research used a nonequivalent, control-group design in a secondary analysis of 146 women. Results: Analysis showed that (a) logistic regression indicated a statistically significant model for predicting Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory scores using level of education and racial group; (b) logistic regression also demonstrated that treatment completion could be successfully predicted by Revise Conflict Tactics Scale Negotiation score and referral status (e.g., regular court, criminal domestic violence court, and pretrial intervention). Conclusions: These analyses illustrate characteristics of female batterers as they connect to parenting attitudes and offer initial evidence suggesting that women in treatment for intimate partner violence perpetration display a host of negative parenting attitudes. Implications of these results were investigated and considered.

Domestic Violence Courts: A Multisite Test of Whether and How They Change Offender Outcomes.

Findings are from an investigation of 24 criminal domestic violence courts (DVCs) across New York, testing their effect on recidivism, case processing, and case resolutions. Overall, we found a small positive impact on recidivism among convicted offenders. We further found that the sex of defendants moderated the court impact on case resolutions; that is, among male defendants only, DVCs increased conviction rates and sentences involving jail or prison. In addition, multi-level, multivariate analyses found that court policies specifically designed to increase victim safety, hold offenders accountable, and reduce offender recidivism (through deterrence or rehabilitation) were instrumental in reducing recidivism.

No-Contact Orders, Victim Safety, and Offender Recidivism in Cases of Misdemeanor Criminal Domestic Violence: A Randomized Experiment

Using an experimental design, this research examined the impact of proactive enforcement of court-imposed no-contact orders (NCOs) on offender behavior and victim safety in cases of misdemeanor domestic violence. The major research goals and objectives were to assess whether proactive enforcement: (1) enhanced victim safety by reducing offender recidivism; (2) increased victim knowledge about no-contact orders; and (3) reduced contact between offenders and victims. A prospective design was used to randomly assign 466 cases of misdemeanor criminal domestic violence to either systematic, proactive enforcement or to routine, reactive enforcement of the court-ordered no-contact order conditions. Treatment effectiveness was assessed by analyses of official criminal records data and victim survey data. Study results suggest that the treatment had no impact on victim safety or offender recidivism. Notably, victims in the treatment group were more likely to be aware that the no-contact order was in place, had higher level of contact with law enforcement and victim advocates, and more often viewed the contact with their batterer as stalking or harassment. Overall, findings from this study suggest important directions for future research examining the effectiveness of interventions for intimate partner violence and abuse.

An Eye for an Eye: Gender Revanchisme and the Negation of Attachment in Domestic Violence Policy

Domestic violence policy and practice occupy a unique, complex, and often paradoxical cultural and legal space. The criminalization of domestic violence stands in stark contrast to greater social tolerance for violence among other family role sets, particularly those involving children. Debates concerning the role of gender in domestic violence emphasizing either male perpetration toward females or broadening the analysis to include mutuality of violence, female perpetration, and same-sex partner violence miss both key latent sociopolitical functions of policy and the greater complexity of gender across other forms of family violence. Harsher criminal penalties for offenders and current Duluth model inspired treatment approaches have not produced any evidence of commensurate declines in domestic violence. We have substituted vengeance for efficacy in our zeal to displace societal responsibility for domestic violence to scapegoated “batterers.”

The Perceptions of Judicial and Psychosocial Interveners of the Consequences of Dropped Charges in Domestic Violence Cases

Many domestic violence cases do not go to trial because the victim refuses to testify. This article presents a qualitative study exploring the dismissal of criminal charges in domestic violence cases. The 22 judicial and psychosocial professionals interviewed in Montreal, Canada, discussed various consequences of the legal decision to dismiss the charges on victims, perpetrators, justice system professionals, and society as a whole. Respondents clearly did not view the withdrawal of charges as a failure of the criminalization of domestic violence.

The Effects of Referral Source Supervision

Domestic violence offenders who are court mandated to attend a batterer treatment program are more likely to complete treatment than offenders who voluntarily attend. However, few studies have examined the amount or severity of referral source supervision and its effect on treatment completion. This study uses data from three referral sources in South Carolina (i.e., pretrial intervention, criminal domestic violence court, and summary court) to determine whether higher levels of monitoring during a 26-week hybrid cognitive-behavioral batterer treatment program increase the likelihood of completion among batterers. Results indicate that increased supervision exercised over the clients by the referral source during treatment increases the likelihood that offenders will successfully complete the program. It is recommended that courts and other referring agencies keep attendance records, mandate monthly check-ins with case managers, require defendants to appear in court for follow-up hearings, and dedicate staff to monitor domestic violence cases to increase completion rates among batterers in treatment.

A Specialized Domestic Violence Court in South Carolina

The current research details interviews with 50 victims and 50 defendants who participated in a specialized criminal domestic violence court in Lexington County, South Carolina. These victims and defendants indicated satisfaction with their court experiences, thought the process allowed them to voice their views, felt they were treated with respect, and were generally satisfied with the outcome of their cases. Court observations and interviews with court personnel confirmed that this court has successfully incorporated victims and defendants into the decision-making process while also providing a fair system to address the issue of violence against women.

The criminalization of domestic violence: what social workers need to know.

Domestic violence is a crosscutting issue that affects clients seeking social work services. The criminalization of domestic violence refers to efforts to address domestic violence through the passage and enforcement of criminal and civil laws. This article reviews the social science, legal, and criminal justice literature regarding interventions used to stop domestic violence. The theoretical foundations and effectiveness of police interventions, the use of protective orders, prosecution and victim advocacy, court responses, batterers' intervention as a condition of probation, and coordinated community responses to domestic violence are examined. Implications for social work practice are given, along with basic information for assisting clients who are victims of violence in their own homes.

Domestic Violence Beliefs and Attitudes in the Chinese American Community

A total of 262 Chinese Americans were surveyed on the telephone about their definitions of domestic violence, attitudes toward the use of interpersonal violence, myths about domestic violence victims, and their attitudes toward the criminalization of domestic violence. Generally, Chinese Americans were more likely to define domestic violence in terms of physical and sexual aggression as opposed to psychological abuse. The majority did not approve of hitting spouses or using physical force as a means to solve problems but were ambivalent about using physical punishment to discipline children. A quarter stated that victims caused the abuse, and almost half reported that victims can easily leave an abusive relationship. Although many stated that domestic violence is a crime, many felt that family matters were private. Gender role beliefs impacted on various perceptions of domestic violence. Findings are discussed in their cultural context, and implications for practice and research are discussed for Chinese domestic violence victims.

Conflicting Consensus

Limited research exists on the extent to which the public supports the criminalization of domestic violence, and whether people believe police pro-arrest policies will deter future offending. Based on conflict theory, it is hypothesized that there will be differences in support for criminalization between powerful (i.e., middle to upper class Caucasian men) and less powerful demographic groups (i.e., women, minorities, and the economically and educationally disadvantaged). Data were collected from a randomized telephone survey of Alabama residents and analyzed using ordered regression models. Results indicate that a majority of respondents agreed with a pro-arrest policy for domestic violence; however, age, education, income, and gender subgroup differences offer support for the conflict model. An additional finding that domestic violence victimization plays a significant role in the formulation of respondents' attitudes toward these policies needs to be more closely investigated.

Rationalizing patriarchy: Gender, domestic violence, and law in Mexico

National legislation criminalizing domestic violence and cases from the rural town of Namiquipa, Chihuahua, are examined in relation to broad processes of state formation and local practices in order to demonstrate the ways in which law was a site for the negotiation of identities and relations of power in nineteenth century Mexico. The paper argues that the criminalization of domestic violence in Mexico was part of a liberal process of nation‐state formation that attempted to revolutionize the legitimate bases of authority and redefine hegemonic forms of gender in both public and domestic spheres. However, legal changes rationalized rather than undermined patriarchy.

Domestic violence: A comparative study of perceptions and attitudes toward domestic abuse cases among social service and criminal justice professionals

Addressing the diverse and interdisciplinary needs of victims and abusers of acts of domestic violence requires efforts of collaboration on the part of both social service and justice professions. Yet information on the extent to which practitioners in various professions share common perceptions and attitudes toward victims and perpetrators of domestic violence is somewhat limited. This article evaluates the extent to which professionals from six social service and criminal justice agencies share similar attitudes and perceptions relative to the definitions of various acts of domestic violence, the best method for handling domestic violence, the criminalization of domestic violence, the endorsement of treatment of domestic violence, and the most helpful agencies in responding to cases of domestic violence.