Domestic violence in 2020: article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, where to go?

Domestic violence, which can also be called domestic or domestic violence, is a systemic and escalating act of aggression committed by a family member (more rarely, several family members), and which is directed at one or other relatives of this family. Such an aggressive act can have various manifestations: physical, psychological, sexual or economic.

However, they all serve the same purpose - to gain control over another or others, to force them to obey, even to the detriment of personal interests. It is not correct to say that domestic violence is only the problem of the submissive woman. According to research data, domestic violence most often affects children, followed by women. In addition, this type of violence includes acts of aggression towards domestic animals. And the American Association for Gender Equality notes that the percentage of men reporting domestic violence against themselves is growing every year.

What is domestic violence?

These are acts of physical, sexual, psychological and economic violence that occurred between former or current spouses or between close relatives.

Domestic violence also affects those couples who live even in a civil marriage.

Law on domestic violence in Russia

In Russia there have already been several attempts to pass a law that would define what domestic violence is and establish some kind of regulatory standards. But as of 2020, there is no law that would define domestic violence as a legal problem.

Why is such a law needed? If a woman or an elderly person is subjected to violence and it does not lead to grievous bodily harm or murder, then this will all be classified as a private prosecution case.

What does this mean? This means only one thing: the victim must independently go to the police or to the magistrate and write a statement about family beatings.

In addition, he must prove that the beatings really took place. And for this it is necessary to remove the beatings in the emergency room.

Collecting papers and filing them correctly is often beyond the power of victims, and victims of violence do not have money for a lawyer. That is why such cases rarely reach court.

There is no such concept as “domestic violence” in Russian legislation. There is torture, beatings, beatings, death threats, but domestic violence does not appear anywhere.

Changes in legislation

Battery is no longer a criminal offense . The law violated the principle of proportionality. In terms of the degree of social danger, intra-family beatings were previously more dangerous than beatings of strangers.

For slapping a loved one, they were given up to 2 years in prison, for slapping a stranger - an administrative punishment.

In 2020, the maximum fine for battery, which also includes domestic violence against loved ones, is 30 thousand rubles. And just recently, before the adoption of the amendment to the Criminal Code, family tyrants faced up to 2 years in prison.

There is a split in society; some say that mitigating the punishment is the right action, since you cannot imprison a person for flogging with a belt or slapping him on the wrist. Others argue that the adopted amendment only plays into the hands of domestic sadists. Who is right and who is wrong?

What do MPs say about decriminalizing domestic violence?

State Duma deputies advised people to perceive the Law “On the Decriminalization of Domestic Violence” as a condition for creating a strong family. Thus, they want family values to be preserved in Russian families.

Opponents of the amendments said that the new law would only worsen the situation in the family . After all, in most cases, judges punish domestic tyrants with a fine, but who pays it if the budget is family?

Therefore, they believe that such a measure of punishment is not a deterrent, and when it comes to loved ones, it only imposes an additional financial burden on the family.

What do lawyers say about decriminalizing domestic violence?

Experts are confident that changing the criminal punishment to a fine does not mean that beatings are legalized. The repeat offender will receive a real sentence in any case.

So, if domestic violence against children, wife, parents was committed for the first time, then the man faces administrative liability. But we are talking about light beatings: slaps, slaps on the head, slaps, etc.

The Criminal Code does not clearly define what battery is . At the same time, Ushakov’s dictionary defines this concept as follows: beatings are blows to a living body.

In the phrase “domestic violence,” the key word is “domestic.” According to some reports, every fourth person in the family encounters it, but it remains so.

But many victims of tyrants do not go to the police, so the official statistics are actually disingenuous, because if the victim herself does not confess, then there seems to be no victim at all.

Concept of psychological violence

Female and male natures are different in their perception of the world around them, the use of methods of self-expression, and thinking.
In this regard, any misunderstanding between them can result in a conflict if no one in the couple knows the techniques of self-regulation and reaching a compromise. When spouses are unable to come to an agreement with each other, with a strong desire to defend their point of view, one of them may use negative methods of influencing the interlocutor - physical or psychological violence. Articles on the topic

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The consequences of psychological violence against women are expressed in various forms - depression, hysteria, stress, personality disorder, depression, fears.

The first method is exposure through corporal punishment - a fight, a blow, from which the victim experiences pain. The second involves inflicting moral suffering, strong emotional distress - verbal insult, humiliation, pressure to obtain one's own benefit.

What to do if your husband (wife, children, parents) hits?

In order to fundamentally correct the situation, the victim can:

To bring the problem of beatings and violence into the public space, be sure to contact the relevant authorities, for example, notify the local police officer.
Ask friends and loved ones for support.
Contact the police with a statement.
Record your injuries at the emergency room.
Become decisive. If a son beats his mother or a husband beats his wife, then the victim needs to pose the question of the beating like this: “Either you stop mocking me or I leave you/you move out of the apartment, etc.”
Notify neighbors that if they hear screams from the apartment, they should immediately call the police.
Quickly leave the house in case of danger. To do this, the victim must hide keys, money, phone and documents in an accessible place so that, if possible, she can take them and quickly leave the house.
Ask friends or relatives to give him shelter if he is in danger.
Contact a crisis center where he will receive psychological and legal assistance.

Self-defense as a way to protect yourself from domestic violence

If a woman regularly suffers from beatings from her husband, his fists, slaps in the face, and so on, then some very brave representatives of the fair sex try to answer their beloved in the same way.

In this case, we are talking about self-defense: so that her husband does not beat her until she loses consciousness, the woman goes on the attack - commits domestic violence against the man, against her abuser.

At the same time, the legislator defines the boundaries of self-defense as follows: the harm caused to the victim should be no more than that caused by the offender.

Roughly speaking, if a husband approaches his wife with a knife, then she should not grab an ax or a gun.

If a wife finds herself in a situation where she needs to use self-defense, then first of all she must protect her life, as well as her health and personal integrity.

There is such a thing as a “surprise attack.” The victim who finds himself in such a situation cannot determine the nature of the attack in order to adequately respond to the offender.

In this case, the law says that in the event of an unexpected attack, the victim can defend himself in any way he likes.

If a woman has become a victim of violence, then first of all she needs to contact the police. When considering the victim’s application, the district police officer will definitely take preventive measures against the offender.

What to do if your husband hits you: run away or defend yourself?

It all depends on the situation in which domestic violence occurs.

In some situations, it will be easier to run away from the offender. But in some situation, the victim understands that it is impossible to escape and the only way to avoid beatings is to resort to self-defense methods.

If the attacker was harmed, then under no circumstances should traces of violence be removed. Such actions may be interpreted as an avoidance of responsibility.

Because if traces of blood rubbing are revealed, objects with which the victim defended himself are destroyed, then the one who defended himself has a high risk that his actions will be interpreted as intentionally causing harm to another person.

If the victim finds himself in a situation where he showed self-defense, then he must, on the contrary, record all traces of the crime.

Due to fear, shame, and lack of information, not all victims of violence turn to law enforcement agencies.

What is important to know about self-defense

Quite often, women suffering from domestic violence try to respond to their partner in the same coin, but the line between self-defense and abuse is quite thin. The human body is designed in such a way that in a critical situation it uses all resources for survival and a sharp surge of adrenaline can lead to disastrous consequences.

The law allows the victim to defend his life and integrity, but prohibits inflicting bodily harm or harm to the life of the offender. Therefore, of course, it is better, at the slightest preconditions of tyranny, to contact law enforcement agencies and record incidents.

Domestic violence against women: where to turn?

When it comes to court, many women of domestic violence remain silent.

They are afraid that their problem will go beyond the family, that relatives and work colleagues will find out about the beating. They perceive beatings as their own shame.

Various organizations are fighting this stereotype and calling for opposition to the domestic tyrant:

Project “Nasiliu.net” – https://nasiliu.net/.
Crisis center for assistance to women and children in Moscow – https://krizis-centr.ru/. Telephone – 8, etc.
Independent charity center for survivors of sexual violence “Sisters”, telephone.

How can a woman find out about such a center for helping victims of domestic violence?

To do this, she can call the all-Russian helpline 8-800-7000-600. If possible, the operator will redirect the woman to his colleagues in the desired region so that the victim can receive assistance on the spot.

By the way, the police have now begun to give applicants the telephone numbers of such centers.

The activity of centers for assistance to victims of domestic violence is to help women/parents/men find internal and external resources within themselves in order to stop the tyrant.

Many women suffering from domestic violence remain silent and do not take this problem outside the home . The reasons why victims endure beatings from husbands, sons, and parents are different, but the result is always the same - a broken fate or, even worse, death from beatings.

“Hitting means loving” - historical background

The expression has its roots in ancient Rus'. This will seem surprising to many, but physical violence by husbands against their wives was actually legalized after the almost complete eradication of paganism. It is believed that under paganism women had more rights.

A model of behavior took root, the basis of which was the dogma that a woman is the root of evil and the source of unclean forces; in order to cleanse her soul and save her from posthumous suffering, a man must teach and beat his wife, thus expressing concern for her. Hence the conclusion: if a man does not beat his wife, it means he does not love her.

This was reflected in Domostroi, a set of prescriptions and instructions for family life in the 16th century. Husbands were advised to “teach” their wives using methods of physical pressure, while it was not recommended to hit them in the face so that they could appear with their wife in society, on the stomach if a woman is pregnant, to use wooden and iron objects, “many troubles happen from this... for pregnant women women and children in the womb are damaged.” It’s better to strike with a whip rather than with your fists, “and it hurts more, and the science will be better understood. And after beating, take a liking, take pity and show how much you love.”

This historically significant document actually establishes violence and assault as one of the foundations for building family life and relationships between spouses at that time. Fortunately, at present such recommendations are not enshrined in any regulatory legal acts, but remnants of the past still remain in the minds of modern Russians.

What does a tyrant husband face for domestic violence?

Each case is individual, so law enforcement agencies investigate each situation and try to get to the bottom of the truth.

If we talk about liability, it can occur under Article 116.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. And then criminal liability can occur for a tyrant only if the victim has previously applied to law enforcement agencies or the court with a similar request or statement.

Then a tyrant husband or another family member who commits domestic violence against other family members may face the following punishment:

fine up to 40 thousand rubles. or in the amount of salary for a period of up to 3 months;
compulsory work for up to 240 hours;
correctional labor for up to six months;
arrest for up to 3 months.

Criminal liability for repeated cases of domestic violence occurs only in the event of relapse - repeated, regular beatings.

In cases where the beatings were committed as a result of a situational, emotional conflict, when people did not intend to harm each other, when there is no persecution of one person by another, then in such cases administrative liability is permissible.

If the victim turned to law enforcement agencies for the first time, then her offender will only face administrative liability, but this is provided that he caused the victim physical pain, which did not lead to such negative consequences as: health problems, temporary loss of ability to work.

For committing violent acts against family members, for causing physical pain to a wife/husband/parents/children, the perpetrator faces punishment under Art. 6.1.1 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation “Beatings”.

Punishment implies the following responsibility:

fine from 5 to 30 thousand rubles;
administrative arrest for a period of 10 to 15 days;
compulsory work for a period of 60 to 120 hours.

The police take action against the victim and the domestic tyrant only if the victim suffers bodily harm - for example, bruises, hematomas, fractures, etc.

From the point of view of Russian legislation, domestic violence in 2020 ceased to be considered a criminal offense, provided that it did not result in serious injuries or temporary loss of ability to work.

If a husband beats his wife once, then he only faces administrative liability.

If the victim contacts law enforcement agencies again, the question will arise of bringing the offender to criminal liability under Art. 116.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Beatings”.

Video: Domestic violence in Russia

Possible consequences

The topic of domestic violence against a child is very difficult for the existing reality. This includes a spanking from a mother who punishes for being with bad friends.

The consequences of these actions can be quite dire:

Disability.
The country's costs for counteraction and a hospital for victims of violent acts.
Death of the target of violence.

According to statistical data, the legislation basically does not carry out its work: few people will dare to teach their own despot a lesson in the house according to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.