It's been a few days since we received an appeal from media representatives regarding the draft law, which provides for the strengthening of administrative responsibility for committing domestic violence.
How effective will fines increased 1,000 times be in preventing and combating domestic violence?
Is a fine of 17,000 hryvnias an appropriate penalty for the offender?
Unfortunately, the answers to these questions are not satisfactory.
Today, the fine for committing domestic violence is from 170 to 340 hryvnias in the case of being brought to administrative responsibility for the first time, and from 340 to 680 hryvnias in the case of repeated prosecution within a year.
Analysis of the results of consideration of cases on bringing a person to administrative responsibility under Art. 173-2 of the Criminal Procedure Code indicates that the practice of applying a fine as a type of administrative sanction prevails.
But fines as a form of administrative punishment are not effective even today, as representatives of public organizations and state authorities have repeatedly pointed out. The results monitoring the response situations of the justice system to domestic violence and violence against women in both 2018 and 2019 confirm this.
And a significant increase in fines can only worsen the situation and lead to negative consequences - both the economic burden for the offender's family and the increase in the latency of cases of domestic violence.
Why?
- in many cases, the fine is paid from the family budget, and in some cases directly by the victim herself;
- the fear of this type of punishment, such as a fine, can become a deterrent to turning to the police.
So is the initiative of such a bill really aimed at preventing and combating domestic violence? Is there something else behind the loud initiatives..?
Today, the state must fulfill its obligations and ratify the Istanbul Convention and ensure proper response to cases of domestic violence!
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