Abandoned and Forgotten? Violent Deaths of Previously Abused Female Victims in Croatia

Abstract

The paper is divided into two parts to facilitate a clearer understanding of different aspects of the violent death of previously abused female victims. The first part offers a brief overview of the most recent phenomenological conclusions on violence ending in death and explains the need to focus on gender differences in homicide victimisation. A bulk of research has confirmed that most women are more vulnerable to homicide within home and that the lethal outcome is an escalation of previously experienced abuse. In order to contribute to a more in-depth study of female intimate homicides, the authors focus on a variety of definitions and draw a clear line between the term femicide and the aggravated murder of a closely related person. In the second part of the paper, the authors have analysed the case-law of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia in which the perpetrators were found guilty of the criminal offence of aggravated murder of a closely related person (Art. 111, Para. 3 of the Criminal Code) in the period from 1 January 2013 to 1 June 2020. The research primarily focused on the circumstance of previous abuse, especially on the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator, the duration and frequency of abuse, and the reaction of the environment and competent authorities in cases where they knew about the abuse or when it was reported.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on violence against closely related persons in Croatia

“…37 Research results obtained by Martinjak, Kikić and Kovčo-Vukadin, which included 85 police cases processed during 2017 and 2018, related to the crime of domestic violence and in which all perpetrators of domestic violence were male, point to the same conclusion. 38 Although no one disputes that domestic violence victims can and are persons of both sexes, the gender conditions of domestic violence are supported by numerical indicators at the international level, which also confirm that its most frequent victims are women. 39 Thus, according to the World Health Organization, 30% of women worldwide have experienced violence by an intimate partner or sexual violence by another person in their lives; 1/3 of women who have been in a relationship claim to have experienced some form of physical or sexual violence by a partner.…”

Review of the Draft Proposal for the Eighth Amendment of the Criminal Code

“…Iako se femicid kao izraz u literaturi pojavljuje više od dva stoljeća, 16 suvremenu definiciju femicida dala je Diana Russell 17 kako bi upozorila na ubijanje žena od strane muškaraca zato što su ženskog spola. U tome leži ključna karakteristika femicida, a to je da se radi o rodno utemeljenom ubojstvu ženske osobe.…”

“…), pri čemu se nasilje nad ženama smatra "kršenjem ljudskih prava i oblikom diskriminacije žena i označava sva djela rodno utemeljenog nasilja koja imaju za 15 Vlada Republike Hrvatske, Nasilje nad ženama i nasilje u obitelji: Unaprjeđenje zaštite žrtava nasilja u sustavu socijalne skrbi, prezentacija, 13. rujna 2023. 16 Ritossa, Dalida; Škorić Marissabel, Abandoned and Forgotten? Violent Deaths of Previously Abused Female Victims in Croatia, Pravni vjesnik: časopis za pravne i društvene znanosti Pravnog fakulteta Sveučilišta J. J. Strossmayera u Osijeku, vol.…”

“…58 Report of the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, its Causes and Consequences (n 172) [16]. 59 Vidi npr.…”