FAMILY VIOLENCE IN THE JUDICIAL PRACTICE OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

Abstract

Since 2002, when the criminal offense of domestic violence was introduced into the criminal justice system of the Republic of Serbia, this incrimination has been constantly developing in the direction of improving the effectiveness of legal solutions. The most significant solution to domestic violence is prescribed by the Criminal Code from 2005. In addition to the legal-theoretical presentation, in order to indicate the basic characteristics of legal solutions in the law of the Republic of Serbia and the way of their implementation in the judicial practice of Serbia by competent judicial authorities, the paper analyzes the statistical data of the Republic Institute of Statistics for the territory of the Republic of Serbia in the period 2006- in 2016 years. A special part of the work is reflected in the analysis of the penal policy of the courts when adjudicating reported crimes (or their perpetrators) in order to determine the severity or mildness of the types and measures of criminal sanctions in specific cases. After the adoption of the Istanbul Convention, this incrimination acquires a new content, meaning and significance. Thus, in 2016, a special law on the prevention of domestic violence was passed with a system of emergency measures that should prevent the possibility of repeating this criminal act. However, and in addition to the prescribed strict prison sentences for the perpetrators of this criminal act, its practical implementation in judicial statistical practice indicates: high volume, structure and dynamics of criminal acts of this type; a high percentage of dismissed criminal charges, suspensions and suspensions of investigations, and the mild punishment policy of the courts, which despite the prescribed prison sentence, usually imposes other types of criminal sanctions.