UDGE No. 5/2026   M.V. SIROTKINA-BUT,   PROBLEM ISSUES OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RIGHT TO COMPROMISE IN THE FORM OF A CONCILIATION AGREEMENT WITH RESPECT TO CHILDREN WHO HAVE BEEN SENTENCED FOR A CRIMINAL OFFENSE RELATED TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

UDC 343.12

DOI  10.37749/2308-9639-2026-5(281)-10

M. V. SIROTKINA-BUT,    Doctor of Law, Professor of the Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law and International Relations, Borys Grinchenko Kyiv Metropolitan University

ORCID ID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7897-409X

 

PROBLEMS   OF IMPLEMENTING THE RIGHT TO COMPROMISE IN THE FORM OF A CONCILIATION AGREEMENT WITH RESPECT TO CHILDREN WHO HAVE BECOME VICTIMS OF CRIMINAL OFFENSES RELATED TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

The article examines the problematic issues of legal regulation and the implementation of the right to compromise in the form of a conciliation agreement in criminal proceedings regarding a criminal offense related to domestic violence against children.   Global trends towards gender equality, humanization of criminal legislation, combating violence in all spheres of life,   ensuring the rights and best interests of the child   encourage and oblige the state at the legislative level to improve mechanisms for preventing and combating criminal offenses related to domestic violence, especially in relation to such a vulnerable category of the population as children (this applies to both minors and young victims).

The relevance of the topic is due to the constant increase in such criminal offenses, as evidenced by statistics. Problems arise even at the stage of documenting an event of domestic violence, where in such a criminal-legal conflict the child remains invisible to law enforcement agencies and the court. This is accompanied by related problems – the lack of identification of the child in the conflict, as a victim of domestic violence   ,   and   as   a victim in   criminal   proceedings   ;   the inability to “divide” the child by age, not by status, to establish   his   gender, since there is no data in the procedural documents   ,  etc. 

The article analyzes only one form of exercising the right to compromise in criminal proceedings regarding this type of criminal offense – a reconciliation agreement between the victim and the suspect or accused, and also outlines its practical and legislative shortcomings in implementation.

Thus, with relative legislative regulation   and   a mechanism for exercising the right to compromise by the parties to domestic violence in the form of a reconciliation agreement, attention was drawn to the gaps of a legislative nature in the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, of a law enforcement   nature   in the very activities of representatives of law enforcement agencies, the court, etc. The implementation of the right to protection by a representative of the victim to guarantee the protection of the rights and best interests of the child in criminal proceedings related to domestic violence when concluding a reconciliation agreement is also insufficient.

The norms of criminal procedural legislation, statistical materials and judicial practice   on problematic issues of the implementation of the right to   compromise by children who have suffered   from domestic violence during the conclusion and approval of agreements  are analyzed   . Special attention is paid to ensuring the right to protection of the victim in this category of cases   during the conclusion   and   approval   of a reconciliation agreement   . The author of the article offers proposals for criminal procedural legislation on the normative improvement   of the provisions   of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine in the context of legal regulation of the participation of a lawyer as a representative of the victim during the implementation of the right to compromise in the form of an agreement on reconciliation by the parties to a criminal legal conflict related to domestic violence.

Attention is focused on the fact that it is the qualified assistance of a lawyer   ,   as a representative   ,   that is mandatory in this category of criminal cases to achieve the lost restorative and legal effect for the victim of domestic violence.

Keywords:   criminal offense related to domestic violence   ;   domestic violence   ;   children   ;   representative   ;   right to compromise   ;   reconciliation agreement   ;   criminal   –   legal conflict   ;   right to protection   ;   victim.

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