THE ELDERLY AS A VULNERABLE CATEGORY OF VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Abstract

Abstract. Violence remains one of the most common forms of human rights violations. Its reasons are related to the economic situation in the country, social norms and attitudes to violence. All family members can suffer from domestic violence, but most often it affects the weak, incapable of self-defense, and dependent family members: children, the elderly, and people with physical or mental disabilities. In other words, people who are most vulnerable. That is why many of them do not report the negative, violent attitude towards them, but perceive it as an inevitable phenomenon, not knowing about possible legal protection, and in the case of turning to the authorities for help, they feel that the existing problem is not taken seriously. This, in turn, entails the silencing of the facts of domestic violence, i.e. the latency of this illegal act. The elderly, pensioners, people with disabilities and single people continue to be the most vulnerable segment of society, which makes it necessary to identify the causes and conditions that contribute to domestic violence and to take certain measures to protect the rights of victims. The article is devoted to the identification of social and psychological and forensic characteristics of the elderly, which make it possible to define them as a vulnerable category of victims. To achieve the goal of the article, we used general scientific methods of systematization and complexity of knowledge, unity of theory and practice.With the help of general philosophical methods (analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction), a conceptual identification of the researched phenomena was carried out, their characteristics were determined, relevant definitions were summarized and formulated, and the logical structure of the research itself was constructed. The study analyzed the psychological characteristics of an elderly person, which served as a basis for investigating domestic violence against this category of persons. In addition, the method of comparison and generalization was used, the practice of different countries of the world was analyzed and the most appropriate example was chosen, which can be applied in Ukraine.