The amended Criminal Code prescribes heavier sentences for sexual abuse and other cases involving violence where there is a close relationship between the perpetrator and the victim. The Exclusion Order Act No. 85/2011, which replaced Act No. 122/2008, empowers the police to take decisions on restraining orders and the expulsion of accused persons from homes in cases of domestic violence. The police can arrest offenders immediately and keep them in custody for up to 24 hours or until a formal decision is taken concerning a restraining order and expulsion from the offender's home.[15]
A special department within the police, named the Sexual Offense Department, investigates all sexual offenses.
When a person complains to the police about domestic disputes, the police can refer assaults to court even when the victim does not wish to do so.[16]To enable the police to gather evidence so the prosecutor can bring charges, the following conditions must be met. The victim must be involved in the investigation, witnesses must be found to support the evidence the victim has given, documented proof of injury must be produced and the suspect must admit to the crime, at least partially.
Since children are often present when violence occurs, the police need to handle them both as victims and as witnesses. In such cases, it should be permissible to interview children at the Children's House (Barnahús) Center for Child Sexual Abuse, operated by the Government Agency for Child Protection.Article 18 of the Criminal Code: A person will only be made criminally responsible under this code if their offense was intentionally or negligently committed. A penalty will not be ordered for negligently committed offenses unless expressly provided for in the code.
Article 19 of the Criminal Code: If the criminality of an act or an increased penalty for an offense is in this code, subject to the condition that certain consequences result from its commission, that condition will not be deemed fulfilled unless the consequences are at least ascribed to the defendant's negligence or deemed to have resulted from the defendant's failure to avert as far as possible the danger caused by the act immediately when the defendant became aware of it.Article 142 of the Criminal Code: Anyone who reports something falsely before a court of law or an authority entitled to administer oaths will be subject to imprisonment for up to four years. In case the report has been given on oath, the penalty will be increased. In case items of the report not pertaining to the matter being investigated are incorrect, fines or imprisonment for up to one year may be applied.
Article 143 of the Criminal Code: A defendant in a criminal case will not be subject to a penalty although they reported the facts of the case incorrectly. Neither will a person having described the events incorrectly due to the fact that correct information relating thereto could have caused them a penal liability in such a case or because they had a reason for assuming this to be so.Article 15 of the Criminal Code: A person who was, at the time an act was committed, totally unable to control their actions due to mental illness, mental disability or mental deterioration, or due to an impaired consciousness or other similar condition, will not be punished.
Article 218 (a) of the Criminal Code: Consent for bodily assault results in the fact that a penalty alternatively applicable may be reduced. In case an act is subject to Article 217, no penalty will be applied when consent is at hand. In case bodily assault is effected by a scuffle or fight between the person causing it and the injured party, it is permissible to reduce the penalty or even cancel it when an act is subject to Article 217.
The same applies if the person sustaining loss initiates a fight by means of attack, irritation or the like.Under Article 12 of the Criminal Code:
Any act committed in self-defence shall not be punishable to the extent that the act was necessary in defence against an unlawful attack already commenced or imminent, or in order to avert such attack, provided that means of defence employed are not obviously more dangerous than warranted by the attack and the damage to be expected in its consequence. A person who has exceeded the limits of permitted self-defence as a result of having been so frightened or startled that he or she could not exercise full restraint, shall not be punished.
Yes, under Article 65 of the Icelandic Code of Criminal Conduct, a witness is obliged to answer questions and to give a true and accurate account of the fact.
In accordance with Article 117 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the following may abstain from testifying:
- a spouse of a defendant (and former spouses)
- direct relatives of a defendant
- a defendant's stepparent or stepchild
- a defendant's parents-in-law