ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITY FOR COMMITTING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST OR IN THE PRESENCE OF A CHILD: TRENDS IN COURT PRACTICE

Abstract

The article analyses trends in law enforcement practice in the field of bringing to administrative responsibility persons who commit domestic violence against or in the presence of children. It was emphasised that the addition of part two to Article 173–2 of the Code of Administrative Offences, on the one hand, contributed to solving the problem of insufficient recording in procedural documents of children who are victims of domestic violence, and on the other hand, gave rise to new challenges in law enforcement practice. Various strategies for recording victimised children in protocols have been identified: 1) recording each victimised child, including child witnesses, in a separate protocol; 2) recording all victimised children in a single protocol; 3) recording the victimised child witness in the same protocol as the adult victim. It was established that in cases where the police record an adult victim and each child witness of domestic violence in a separate protocol, judges have different law enforcement strategies: 1) combining cases under Part 1 and Part 2 of Article 173–2 of the Code of Administrative Offences and imposing a single penalty (most often); 2) consideration of each protocol separately. It is emphasised that the interpretation of Part 2 of Article 173–2 of the Code of Administrative Offences has divided experts into two categories: those who believe that this provision covers children who are witnesses of domestic violence; those who believe the opposite and close the proceedings on the basis of the absence of an event and the elements of an administrative offence (para. 1 of Part 1 of Article 247 of the Code of Administrative Offences). Attention is drawn to different approaches to interpreting the term “child witness (eyewitness)” in the context of their presence directly during the commission of violence. The importance of strengthening efforts to collect evidence in cases involving children who are victims of domestic violence is emphasised, in particular by standardising the procedure for interviewing children using child-friendly techniques in all types of proceedings and in connection with any form of violence, with the possibility of involving psychologists from the Register of Psychologists, as well as the obligation of police officers to involve lawyers in such cases through free secondary legal aid centers. Ways to improve law enforcement practices in the area of administrative liability for domestic violence against or in the presence of a child have been identified.