Criminal responsibility may be invoked for such offences as intentional bodily or psychological injury, murder, threatening to commit murder or to inflict serious bodily injury, rape, moral harassment, sexual assault, rape and others.
Domestic violence & Criminal offences
A criminal offence is an act or behaviour that is strictly prohibited by criminal law and is punished by a penalty (fine, imprisonment etc.). In France, there are three types of criminal offences, classified according to their degree of seriousness:
- “Contraventions”: they are the least serious offences and are punished by fines up to 3,000€ or by other sanctions.
- Misdemeanours: they are punished by fines and/or imprisonment (2 months to 10 years of prison)
- Crimes: they are the most serious offence and are punished by a sentence ranging from 15 years to life imprisonment.
Domestic violence is not defined as a specific or separate criminal offence in the Criminal Code, yet the perpetrator may be held criminally responsible if the acts committed correspond to a crime, contravention or misdemeanour defined in the French Criminal Code. Those are, for example, murder, bodily injuries (severe, moderate or minor injuries), psychological violences, the threat to kill or cause severe bodily injury, illegal restraint, rape, sexual assault, torture and others.
Aggravated circumstance
However, the Criminal Code recognizes domestic violence as an aggravated circumstance. It means that for several defined offences, it is considered as an aggravated circumstance if the criminal offence is committed against the perpetrator’s actual or former spouse or partner (registered or unregistered marital relationship), even when they do not live together.
Therefore, if the violent act (for example, bodily injury or sexual violence) is committed against a relative or an intimate partner, the perpetrator will be held responsible for the specific act, which, in addition, has been committed in aggravated circumstances. Such a conviction provides for a more serious sentence. Thus, the Criminal Code recognizes domestic violence as a more severe act of violence compared to a single or isolated act of violence against a person who is not in a relationship with the perpetrator.
The following table shows the different criminal offences for which there is an aggravating circumstance when they are committed within a couple:
Specific criminal offences related to domestic violences
There are several criminal offences which are provided for in the Criminal Code specifically for cases of domestic violences:
- “Habitual” domestic violence: This offence is applied when the perpetrator commits daily acts of violence of any type against their actual or former partner/spouse (physical, psychological, sexual, economic violences etc.)
- Moral harassment: This offence is applied when the perpetrator harasses their actual or former spouse/partner by repeated comments or behaviour with the purpose or effect of worsening the victim’s living conditions and physical or mental health. The sanctions applied depend on the gravity of the impact on the victim. If the harassment caused the victim to commit suicide or attempt to commit suicide, the perpetrator may be punished by 10 years of prison and a fine of 150 000€.
Crimes against children
The Criminal Code also provides provisions to prevent cruelty and violence against children, recognizing cruel or violent treatment of a minor as a criminal offence, if physical or mental suffering has been inflicted upon the minor, and if such acts have been inflicted by a person on whom the victim is financially or otherwise dependent. Indeed, most of the offences mentioned previously are considered to have an aggravating circumstance when committed on a child or in the presence of a child. Therefore, domestic violence against a child is considered a criminal offence and exposing a child to domestic violence is also considered a criminal offence, even if it has not caused a certain level of bodily harm.