pregnant?” the police ask, “has the alleged perpetrator beaten you while you were pregnant?”. We strongly suggest that the RA be revised, both in content and language, and the word “alleged” for the perpetrator be taken out – see Appendix 1. Recommendations: 1. Amend the questionnaire of risk/danger assessment, to remove the word “alleged” from the questionnaire and to bring it in line with international criteria; 2. Train police officers on how to administer the RA questionnaire.
Removing Abuser from Police Records The DV law indicates when the perpetrator’s name is to be removed from the police record. However, this is not at all in compliance with the standards of preventing further abuse. For example, the removal of the abuser from police record can be done if the person is diagnosed as being mentally ill (but not institutionalized), if the person resides outside of Armenia (even though he could return at any time), if the record-registration expired (unclear when), if the abuser is doing compulsory military service (2 years) and in other cases prescribed by law which are unclear. In one instance, when police gave a Warning, the abuser went to the social services department and stated that there was no need for police visits to the house. This indicates the lack of procedures and coordination between social services and police.
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