Inadequacy of Criminal Law Treatment of Domestic Violence Victims

Domestic violence has a long history. It is particularly problematic as it is positioned between the private arena and the public sphere. In most cases, perpetrators of domestic violence are men and victims who experience violence are women. Violence against women within the family is a consequence of a general conviction prevalent throughout history, when women and children were considered property of husband and father, who had absolute authority over them. Nowadays, domestic violence is regarded as a social, and recently also as a political problem. The fundamental purpose of the article is to present the role of the victim in the family and the significance of the criminal offence of domestic violence from the perspective of its adequate qualification, which is frequently indeterminate and presents a separate problem among experts dealing with domestic violence. Measures under Slovenia Criminal Procedure Act (ZKP) applied in processed criminal offences with elements of domestic violence in the Ljubljana area in 2009 are presented. The author also states her position on privileged witnesses who often avail themselves of legal benefit and waive testimony, despite the violence they suffered from the perpetrators. The author also presents and analyses different kinds of decisions from prosecutor’s files in the processed criminal offences with elements of domestic violence, states her position on settlement as an alternative resolution of domestic violence and, in the concluding chapter, presents the duration of proceedings before courts.