Grounds and Conditions for the Application of Restrictive Measures Applied to Persons who have Committed Domestic Violence

Abstract

The grounds and conditions for the application of restrictive measures applied to persons, who have committed domestic violence, are provided in Art. 91¹ of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. It is established that in the science of criminal law there is a unanimous position that the basis for the application of restrictive measures under Art. 91¹ of the Criminal Code is the commission by a person of a crime related to domestic violence, and the conditions are: 1) sentencing a person not related to imprisonment; 2) release of a person from criminal liability on the grounds provided by the Criminal Code; 3) release of a person from punishment on the grounds provided by the Criminal Code. These conditions are alternative. The content of the concept of «crime related to domestic violence» is analyzed and it is established that it should be understood more broadly than the act provided for in Art. 126¹ of the Criminal Code «Domestic Violence». It is proposed to add to Art. 91¹ of the Criminal Code a note explaining the meaning of the term «criminal offense related to domestic violence», where it is necessary to note that this concept is broader than the crime under Art. 126¹ of the Criminal Code. The content of each of the conditions of application of restrictive measures is analyzed. It has been established that in the application of restrictive measures during the imposition of non-custodial sentences in practice there are problems with the interpretation of the relevant concept. It is proposed to clarify the meaning of the concept of «punishment not related to imprisonment» in Art. 91¹ of the Criminal Code. It is also established that the application of restrictive measures in releasing a person from criminal liability is a declarative norm and is subject to exclusion from the conditions of application of restrictive measures due to the incompatibility of the latter with the nature of exemption from criminal liability. The legislation clearly regulates the procedure for applying restrictive measures to persons released from serving a probation sentence. A number of problems that arise during the control over the behaviour of persons to whom restrictive measures have been applied by the probation authorities have also been identified. The solution to these problems is possible by harmonizing the provisions of the Criminal Code and the Law of Ukraine «On Probation», as well as other regulations governing the activities of probation bodies. It is proposed to refer the application of restrictive measures to supervisory probation, which will lead to a number of changes to the articles of the Law of Ukraine «On Probation» in terms of regulation of supervisory probation, to refer to probation subjects persons subject to restrictive measures, and to exclude the fact that it is assigned to a person released from serving a probation sentence, and in the regulations governing the development and implementation of probation programs to provide for their application to persons to whom restrictive measures have been applied. It is concluded that the probation body should be endowed with a coordinating function to implement all restrictive measures and it is necessary at the level of bylaws to establish a clear procedure for interaction of the probation body with the National Police, local state administrations and local governments to control the behaviour of individuals, which the appropriate restrictive measure is applied.