Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.32984/gapzh.14.1.2
Family Violence in the time of COVID-19 - Information and Criminal Law Challenges
Marissabell Škorić
orcid.org/0000-0003-0627-3651
; University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law
Dalida Rittossa
orcid.org/0000-0002-1452-0838
; University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law
Dejana Golenko
orcid.org/0000-0002-9122-4573
; University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law
Abstract
The main objective of the research is to explore the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, especially during the lockdown, on one of the vulnerable groups - victims of family violence. In order to obtain relevant phenomenological data on the effect of COVID-19 on the incidence of family violence in the Republic of Croatia, data on the number of cases of family violence were collected and analyzed from various sources. Therefore, the results on the dynamics of calls to the standardized European number 116 006 at the National Call Centre for Victims of Crime were compared with the official data on the incidence of family violence from the Ministry of the Interior and the Croatian Bureau of Statistics. Although the above-mentioned sources use different methodology and partly different parameters in data collection, all data show that in recent years the number of severe forms of family violence (Art. 179.a CC /11) has increased compared to the less serious prohibited behaviours (Art. 10 LPDV/17). It has also been shown that a certain number of victims of family violence who contacted the National Call Centre had not reported the violence and had no intention to report it to the competent authorities of criminal prosecution, which confirms the issue of the dark figure of unreported crimes that is particularly characteristic of this form of violence. In conclusion, it is pointed out that despite the scientific research on the phenomenon of family violence conducted so far in the Republic of Croatia, there is a lack of complete phenomenological data on family violence. Furthermore, there is an insufficient number of studies that would allow a deeper understanding of the above phenomenon from the victim's perspective by applying qualitative methods in an interdisciplinary framework. Therefore, future research should definitely move in this direction, which would make it easier for policymakers to develop strategies to protect vulnerable groups that face additional risks in situations of crisis.
Keywords
family violence, COVID-19 crisis, lockdown, phenomenological indicators, information credibility
Hrčak ID:
310071
URI
Publication date:
24.11.2023.
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