THE ROLE OF THE POLICE AND THE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE IN THE PREVENTION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN SERBIA

Abstract

By ratifying the Istanbul Convention, Serbia has committed itself to ensuring that the police are adequately involved in the prevention of domestic violence as soon as such cases occur. Unlike in criminal proceedings, where the public prosecutor is responsible for prosecuting perpetrators of domestic violence, the police play a dominant role in domestic violence prevention proceedings. They are responsible for risk assessment and risk management as well as for taking immediate action against the perpetrator. Based on these legal provisions, it is clear that the police and the public prosecutor within the Serbian legal system must effectively cooperate and coordinate in the fight against domestic violence. Although the main goal of repressive measures in criminal law is to punish the perpetrator, we believe that both preventive and repressive measures in the field of domestic violence should have the same main goal: to prevent violence by eliminating the conditions and causes that lead to it. The competent authorities should take appropriate legal action against a potential perpetrator in order to prevent them from committing domestic violence for the first time or reoffending if they have done so in the past. Imposing immediate measures, such as the perpetrator moving out of the home if they share it with the victim, and prohibiting contact with or approaching the victim is intended to remove the conditions that could lead to future violence. The public prosecutor can only propose to the court an extension of the immediate measures against the perpetrator if these measures were originally imposed by the police. In addition, the public prosecutor plays another important role: presiding over the Group for Coordination and Cooperation, which is established within the jurisdiction of each public prosecutor. One of the tasks of the Group is to develop an individual protection and support plan for the victim. The aim of this paper is to present the results of research related to certain effects of the implementation of the Law on Prevention of Domestic Violence, adopted as a result of the ratification of the Istanbul Convention and the application of the pre-crime concept in the field of domestic violence in Serbia, in the period from 2018 to 2024. The subject of the conducted research is the analysis of the practical actions of the competent authorities in preventing domestic violence and protecting victims of domestic violence. The research focused on determining the extent of domestic violence in Serbia and assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of the competent authorities, in particular the impact of the measures taken to ensure the safety of the victim. The research was based on the application of normative and statistical methods, content analysis and comparative and formal-logical analysis. The results obtained from the study were processed statistically using an appropriate selection of statistical methods. Through the application of content analysis, the paper examines legal regulations and relevant academic texts related to the topic of combating domestic violence. Using statistical methods, the data of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Serbia and the General Public Prosecution on the topic of domestic violence for the period 2018–2024 were analyzed. The results show that the number of registered incidents of domestic violence in Serbia has remained at a similar annual level, as has the number of emergency measures imposed. The number of criminal offenses related to domestic violence is decreasing, as is the number of family members killed in acts of domestic violence. This indicates the positive effects of the application of the concept of combating criminal records in the field of domestic violence in Serbia. However, the high number of women killed by men with whom they had some form of intimate relationship remains a major cause for concern. In several cases, the murders occurred even though the victims had previously reported domestic violence to the police. It is therefore necessary to raise the efficiency of the competent authorities in preventing the most serious forms of domestic violence to a higher level.