NASILNA VIKTIMIZACIJA DJECE U PANDEMIJSKIM UVJETIMA ŽIVLJENJA U HRVATSKOJ
VIOLENT VICTIMIZATION OF CHILDREN IN PANDEMIC LIVING CONDITIONS IN CROATIA

Summary/Abstract: The pandemic caused by the Covid-19 virus has drastically changed the way of life all over the world and forced states and individuals to make a whole series of adjustments in their daily functioning. Adaptations to the pandemic lifestyle have led to the introduction of a range of measures at the state level aimed at preventing the spread of the pandemic. Many countries have introduced measures of social distancing, school closures, restrictions or total bans on services and other measures. The introduced measures have affected all citizens, but there are certain social groups that deserve special attention in such crisis situations, and that is children. Of particular importance is the issue of possible changes in the violent victimization of children in pandemic living conditions. The aim of this paper is to determine the structure of violent victimization of children according to selected groups of criminal offenses and to determine changes in the scope of violent victimization of children in 2020 compared to 2019. The analysis of police data indicates the following: 1) the most common form of violent victimization of children is child abuse; 2) in 2020, there was increase in the number of reports for the criminal offenses of bodily injury, coercion, violation of children's rights and family violence; 3) there is a noticeable decrease in the number of children victims of domestic violence on a misdemeanor basis, 4) in most of the analyzed criminal offenses, monthly oscillations are recorded in 2020 compared to 2019; 5) the decrease in the number of children victims of domestic violence is noticeable in almost all months of 2020 compared to 2019. In conclusion, certain changes in the scope and structure of violent victimization of children in 2020 compared to 2019 are noted, the impossibility of analyzing the impact of pandemic measures on these changes due to the characteristics of police statistics is emphasized, and the importance of establishing a reliable database on violent victimization of children is underlined.

• Details
• Contents