Pregledni rad
https://doi.org/10.54070/hljk.32.1.2
QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE CONTENT OF THE FACTUAL DESCRIPTION OF DOMESTIC PSYCHOLOGICAL VIOLENCE AS A MISDEMEANOUR
Nevena Aljinović
orcid.org/0000-0001-6557-2796
; Sveučilište u Splitu, Sveučilišni odjel za forenzične znanosti
*
* Dopisni autor.
Sažetak
The decisive facts that determine the nature of a misdemeanour are the basis for its legal
qualification. The lack of even one constitutive element makes it impossible to qualify the act
as such. Psychological violence, as a materially punishable offence, is not exhausted in the
action itself, but essentially includes the consequence as an effect on the victim. Therefore,
the consequence must be included in the factual description of the indictment, not merely as a
paraphrasing of the legal text, but in the form of a description of its manifestation. The court’s
task is therefore to consider the feelings of distress and violation of dignity, as constitutive
components of the misdemeanour that reflect the victim’s subjective experience, through their
objective weight when determining whether the legal characteristics of the misdemeanour of
domestic violence are met. This task has proven to be highly challenging in practice. Another
difficulty lies in determining the existence of “family relationship” as an inherent element
of the misdemeanour of domestic violence. The prevailing deep-rooted and undifferentiated
interpretations often disregard the fact that family ties (sometimes) extend beyond the factual cannot (or should not) cease a priori by the formal termination of the marriage. Interpretation
in the context of “family relationship” should be quaestio facti. In support of the above are
the frequent revisions of lower-court convictions by the High Misdemeanour Court of the Republic
of Croatia precisely because of the lack of constitutive elements of the misdemeanour
of domestic violence. The paper examines the legal framework governing protection against
psychological domestic violence and the case law of the High Misdemeanour Court of the
Republic of Croatia, employing theoretical and normative methods, as well as a qualitative
analysis of the content of court decisions. The paper aims to show the importance of validating
the factual description of the indictment and the consequences of its insufficiently conceived
content, especially the absence of manifestations of harm to the victim or the failure to specify
the kinship between the perpetrator and the victim as crucial elements of the misdemeanour
of domestic violence.
Ključne riječi
domestic violence, psychological violence, feeling of distress, violation of dignity, in-law kinship
Hrčak ID:
341049
URI
Datum izdavanja:
25.11.2025.
Posjeta: 491 *