According to the data provided by the Ministry of Social Security and Labor, more than 56,000 reports of domestic violence were registered with the police last year in Lithuania. Nevertheless, domestic violence still remains a hidden phenomenon, the exact extent of which is unknown. Moreover, according to the public opinion survey, 60 percent of those who experienced domestic violence did not seek help. Physical violence is recorded most often, while cases of psychological, economic and sexual violence are almost unreported, and women aged 30-59 are most often affected by domestic violence.

In 2021, the Parliament adopted a new version of the Law on Protection from Domestic Violence, which established the warrant for protection against domestic violence. These amendments entered into force on July 1, 2023. According to the law, if there is a risk of domestic violence, an adult who poses a risk of violent behavior may be obliged to temporarily move out of the place of residence if the person lives together with a person who is at risk of violence, not to visit this person's place of residence, not to approach this person and other people living together. A domestic violence protection warrant would be issued by a police officer for a period of 15 days, when, after receiving a report of possible domestic violence and carrying out a risk assessment, a risk of domestic violence has been determined.

In the first weekend when the warrant was in effect, the police received 353 reports of possible domestic violence. In 91 cases, a pre-trial investigation or a material clarification procedure has been initiated. In another 262 cases, the police assessed the situation individually and issued 147 warrants obliging the potential perpetrator to move out of the residence and not to seek contact with the person at risk of violence. It is very important that people at risk of violence receive real help immediately, because it significantly reduces the risk that they will become victims of crime in the future.

Criminal proceedings are not sufficient enough to ensure the safety of victims of domestic violence. Currently, the police initiates a pre-trial investigation for about one in five reports of domestic violence, and some of those pre-trial investigations are closed because there is no corpus delicti; moreover, it is practically impossible to start pretrial investigations in cases of emotional and economic violence. For these reasons, the path of protection was followed: the warrant is a new tool that is focused on the protection of the person in danger and is aimed at the quick protection of victims, when the abuser is eliminated from the environment of the victims.

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