THE INFLUENCE OF THE DECISIONS OF THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS ON THE MECHANISM FOR THE PREVENTION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN UKRAINE

Abstract

The article considers the role of decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in the mechanism of prevention of domestic violence. It is indicated that the national criminal procedural legislation has not been adapted and brought into line with international legal documents, as well as the positions of the European Court of Human Rights. It is noted that despite the fact that in Art. 17 of the Law of Ukraine "On the Implementation of Decisions and Application of the Practice of the European Court of Human Rights", it is determined that courts apply the Convention and the practice of the Court as a source of law when considering cases, national legislation does not define the term "practice of the European Court of Human Rights", which leads to the formation of various doctrinal and practical positions on this issue. This makes it possible to ignore individual decisions of the Court both within the scope of the court proceedings and during law-making work. This results in different interpretations of legal norms, and therefore gaps in the law enforcement mechanism, which destabilizes the process of legal support of the criminal offense prevention system. An example is the inclusion of domestic violence in the category of criminal offenses for which criminal proceedings are carried out in the form of private prosecution. It is concluded that the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights within the scope of special criminological prevention of criminal offenses have a formal and legal significance, as they are not of an imperative nature, they are often determined by decisions made under conditions of judicial discretion and, de jure, such decisions are acts of law enforcement and legal interpretation of provisions European Convention on Human Rights. At the same time, regardless of the above, such decisions form a proven platform for improving organizational and legal measures to combat crime through shaping the course of development of criminal law policy.