Role of criminal law of Serbia in prevention of family violence

Abstract

The question is asked what the possibilities of criminal law in prevention and suppression of family violence are. Article 42 of the Criminal Code starts from relative theory and determines the purpose of punishment as special and general prevention. Special prevention is underlined also within security measures as a type of criminal sanctions which can be ordered for family violence as well. Analysing the penal policy of the legislator and courts, we have made an attempt to determine if the purpose has been achieved of prescribing a criminal offence of family violence. As pointed out in a part of theory ratio legis of this incrimination was to provide complex criminal law protection. However, taking into account the reaction and response of the competent authorities to family violence, and after the analysis of primarily court penal policy, we express a certain degree of scepsis regarding the reasons set forth as the reasons the legislator was guided by when incriminating family violence. It is therefore clear that general and special prevention goals that the penalty implies are not accomplished either, and this clearly and undoubtedly results from the legal text. The fact that this phenomenon draws the attention of the public increasingly suggests that the legislator was mostly guided by certain populist-political reasons rather than the true analysis which determines the need to incriminate family violence as a separate criminal offence.