Domestic Violence in the Light of Police Statistics (2013 - 2024)

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In recent years, domestic violence has become an object of special attention by the Parliament, the Government and the society in general. Therefore, domestic violence could be a very attractive object of criminological research in the context of the impact of the War on the society.

In 2017, the Criminal Code of Ukraine was supplemented by Article 126-1 according to the Law № 2227-VIII of 06.12.2017 and amended by the Law № 3342-IX of 23.08.2023, where the domestic violence was defined as a crime.

According to the Article 126-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, domestic violence is defined as intentional systematic commission of physical, psychological or economic violence against a spouse or former spouse or another person with whom the perpetrator is (was) in a family or close relationship, which results in physical or psychological suffering, health disorders, disability, emotional dependence or deterioration of the quality of life of the victim.

As the crime statistics show, 4800 crimes resulted from domestic violence were registered in Ukraine in 2021. The next year, after the War started, 3360 crimes resulted from domestic violence were registered. Such a reduction could be explained by different factors like the mass migration of potential victims to other European countries and the participation of many potential perpetrators in military actions. In any case, the traditional social basis for domestic violence was minimised largely with the War.

However, in 2023, 6805 crimes resulted from domestic violence were registered in Ukraine. Moreover, in 2024, 8900 crimes resulted from domestic violence were registered in Ukraine.

Two interesting facts are drawn from the analysis of official crime statistics: 1) the average number of crimes resulted from domestic violence in 2022 decreased 1,42 times as compared with 2021; 2) the average number of crimes resulted from domestic violence in 2022 – 2024 is 2,9 times higher as compared with an average number of the same crimes in the period of 2012–2021 (2189 and 6355 correspondingly).

It should be noted that police statistics accumulated by the Office of General Prosecutor distinguishes two indicators: 1) crimes resulted from domestic violence; 2) domestic violence as a separate crime.

Here, we can see the statistical data for both indicators:

2019: 2554 crimes resulted from domestic violence (total), 1068 crimes of domestic violence (Article 126-1 of the Criminal Code);
2020: 3972 crimes resulted from domestic violence (total), 2213 crimes of domestic violence (Article 126-1 of the Criminal Code);
2021: 4800 crimes resulted from domestic violence (total), 2432 crimes of domestic violence (Article 126-1 of the Criminal Code);
2022: 3360 crimes resulted from domestic violence (total), 1498 crimes of domestic violence (Article 126-1 of the Criminal Code);
2023: 6805 crimes resulted from domestic violence (total), 1824 crimes of domestic violence (Article 126-1 of the Criminal Code);
2024: 8900 crimes resulted from domestic violence (total), 2810 crimes of domestic violence (Article 126-1 of the Criminal Code).

Several conclusions could be drawn from police statistics.

Before the War started, there was a permanent trend that crimes of domestic violence constituted a half of all crimes resulted from domestic violence (42% in 2019, 55% in 2020, 51% in 2021). However, after the War started, the percentage of crime of domestic violence (Article 126-1 of the Criminal Code) reduced to the level of 35% (45% in 2022, 27% in 2023, 32% in 2024) in favour of other crimes resulted from domestic violence. We can presume that other crimes resulted from domestic violence could hide different forms of ill-treatment by private individuals, which is hidden from real statistical representation. At the same time, it is obviously problematic to separate domestic violence from other crimes resulted from domestic violence.