Persecution as a Socially Dangerous Phenomena in Ukraine

Fairly large number of researches have been surveyed on domestic violence. It is known that both men and women use physical and psychological violence, but despite this, law enforcement practice is surprisingly more focused on protecting women. If the issue of violence is more or less clear, and the state responds to it ex post facto, there is another much more complicated issue when the victim is already in a depressed state, but formally, no criminal or administrative offenses have been committed against her. Moreover, statistics represents an increase of threats among population. Examining the experience of foreign countries, it is obvious that this type of socially dangerous act is criminally punishable in different countries. Thus, the article is devoted to persecution as a mental influence on the will of a person. The Ukrainian legislation that indirectly concerns persecution, namely Art. 1733 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences, the Art. 1261 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. It is proposed to criminalize the Art. 1462 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine “Persecution” where it’s justified the need to ensure a high level of protection of the rights, freedoms and interests of citizens, including the protection of persons from negative psychological pressure. It’s also provided the edition of the Art. 1462 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine "Persecution" and amendments to the law on criminal liability in this edition are substantiated.