Contract Law · 23.03.2026

Domestic Violence Cases in Vietnam: Articles 185, 134 and 140 of the Penal Code

Lawyer UnilawReading time: 9 min

Vietnamese criminal law has no single offence called “domestic violence”. What exists is a set of Penal Code articles that a family incident can be charged under, and the choice between them changes almost everything: the penalty range, whether the case can start at all without the victim asking for it, and whether the victim can stop it once it has begun. This page explains the three articles that matter most and the one procedural rule that decides the shape of the case.

1. Article 185: ill-treatment of a family member

Article 185 of the Penal Code covers a person who treats badly, or commits acts of violence against the body of, their grandparent, parent, spouse, child, grandchild, or a person who raised them. It applies in one of two situations: where the conduct regularly causes the victim physical or mental suffering, or where the person has already been administratively sanctioned for the same conduct and offends again. The penalty is a warning, non-custodial reform of up to 3 years, or imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years.

Clause 2 raises it to imprisonment from 2 to 5 years where the victim is under 16, a woman known to be pregnant, elderly and frail, a person with severe or especially severe disability, or a person with a life-threatening illness.

Two words in clause 1 carry most of the weight. “Regularly” means a single incident, however serious, is not the natural fit for Article 185 — it points to a pattern, and the file has to establish one. And “already administratively sanctioned” means that an earlier administrative decision in the household’s history can be what turns a later incident into a criminal case.

2. Article 134: intentional infliction of injury, and the 11% threshold

Where a single incident caused a measurable injury, the charge is usually Article 134 — intentional infliction of injury or harm to another person’s health. Clause 1 applies where the bodily injury rate is from 11% to 30%, and carries non-custodial reform of up to 3 years or imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years. It also applies where the rate is under 11% but the act falls into one of the listed circumstances, several of which arise routinely in family cases:

use of a weapon, explosive material, a dangerous instrument, or a method capable of harming several people;
use of dangerous acid or dangerous chemicals;
against a person under 16, a woman known to be pregnant, an elderly and frail or sick person, or another person unable to defend themselves;
against one’s own grandparent, parent, teacher, or a person who raised or treated one;
organised commission; abuse of position or powers; hiring another to inflict the injury.

The injury-assessment percentage is therefore the number the case turns on, and a forensic assessment is not a formality — it is the document that places the case inside or outside clause 1, and inside or outside the need for the listed circumstances at all.

3. Article 140: cruel treatment of a dependent person

Article 140 covers a person who treats cruelly or humiliates a person dependent on them, where the case does not fall within Article 185. The penalty is non-custodial reform of up to 3 years or imprisonment from 3 months to 2 years. Clause 2 raises it to 1 to 3 years where the victim is under 16, a woman known to be pregnant, an elderly and frail or sick person or another person unable to defend themselves; where the victim suffers a mental and behavioural disorder with a bodily injury rate of 31% or more; or where there are two or more victims. Article 140 matters in households that are not built on the family relationships listed in Article 185 — a partner outside marriage, a domestic worker, a dependent relative outside the enumerated degrees.

4. The rule that decides the shape of the case: Article 155

Article 155 of the Criminal Procedure Code No. 101/2015/QH13 provides that a criminal case for the offences in clause 1 of Articles 134, 135, 136, 138, 139, 141, 143, 155, 156 and 226 of the Penal Code may be instituted only at the request of the victim, or of the victim’s representative where the victim is under 18, has a mental or physical defect, or has died.

Read that list carefully. Article 134(1) is on it. Article 185 is not. Nor is Article 140. So an incident charged as intentional infliction of injury under clause 1 cannot proceed without the victim’s request, while the same household charged under Article 185 as a pattern of ill-treatment proceeds on the authorities’ own initiative regardless of what the victim wants. This is the most consequential fork in a Vietnamese domestic case, and it is decided by which article the investigating body selects.

5. Withdrawing a request — and when it does not stop the case

Article 155(2) provides that where the person who requested prosecution withdraws the request, the case must be terminated — with one exception: where there are grounds to establish that the withdrawal was contrary to their true will because of compulsion or coercion, the investigating body, the procuracy and the court continue the proceedings notwithstanding the withdrawal. Article 155(3) adds that once a request has been withdrawn it cannot be made again, except where the withdrawal itself was compelled or coerced.

That exception exists precisely for family cases, and both sides of it are real. A victim who withdraws under pressure does not end the case. Equally, an allegation that a genuine withdrawal was coerced can keep a case alive that should have ended, and answering that allegation with evidence is defence work.

6. What the file must contain, and what it cannot rest on

Article 13 of the Criminal Procedure Code states the presumption of innocence and requires a conclusion of not guilty where the grounds for accusation cannot be established through the Code’s procedure. Article 98 is central in domestic cases, where the file often consists of one account against another plus a statement taken on the night: an admission by the accused may be treated as evidence only if it is consistent with the other evidence, and may never be the sole basis for a conviction.

Article 183 governs interrogation — notification of the procurator and defender, explanation of the accused’s rights under Article 60 before the first interrogation recorded in the minutes, separate questioning of co-accused, and no interrogation at night unless it cannot be postponed and the reason is recorded. Statements taken in the hours immediately after a household incident are exactly where those requirements are tested.

7. Rights of the accused, and of the victim

Articles 58, 60 and 61 of the Criminal Procedure Code give the person held, the accused and the defendant the right to be told the reason, to have their rights explained, to present evidence and requests, to comment on the evidence, and expressly not to be compelled to give a statement against themselves or to admit guilt. Article 16 obliges the authorities to notify, explain and ensure both the right to defence of the accused and the lawful rights and interests of the victim — the same article covers both.

A defender takes part from the moment charges are laid, or from arrival at the investigating body’s premises where the person is arrested or held (Article 74); Article 73 sets out what the defender may do, Article 78 the registration procedure, and Article 76 the cases of mandatory appointment. Where a minor in the household is the accused, the Law on Juvenile Justice No. 59/2024/QH15, in force from 1 January 2026, applies.

8. Mitigation, suspended sentence and the record

Article 51 of the Penal Code lists the mitigating circumstances. Several are directly relevant to family cases: preventing or reducing the harm, voluntarily making good or compensating the damage, exceeding the limits of legitimate self-defence, offending while in a state of mental agitation caused by the victim’s unlawful conduct, offending under exceptional hardship not of one’s own making, offending for the first time in a less serious case, and offending under threat or coercion.

Article 65 allows a suspended sentence where the imprisonment imposed does not exceed 3 years, with a probation period of 1 to 5 years — which is within reach under Article 185(1), Article 134(1) and Article 140, but not under Article 185(2). Article 69 provides that a person whose conviction is expunged is regarded as not having been convicted.

9. Foreign nationals and mixed marriages

Article 5 of the Penal Code applies the Code to every offence committed on Vietnamese territory, whatever the nationality of those involved, subject only to diplomatic and consular immunity. A foreign spouse in Vietnam is therefore within Articles 185, 134 and 140 in the same way as a Vietnamese one. Article 29 of the Criminal Procedure Code provides that proceedings are in Vietnamese and that a participant may use their own language with an interpreter provided — which in a household case means checking that the Vietnamese record of an emotional, fast-moving account is accurate.

Where the criminal matter sits alongside a marriage breakdown, the civil side runs separately. See divorce in Vietnam — court, children and property and family law in Vietnam, including cross-border family matters.

10. Speak to UniLaw before the charge is settled

In a Vietnamese domestic case, the decision that matters most is which article the file is built on — because that decides whether the case needs the victim’s request, whether a withdrawal ends it, and what the penalty range is. That decision is taken early. If you are accused, or you are the victim and unsure what your request or your withdrawal will actually do, contact UniLaw and we will set out the position under the specific article in your file.

Legal basis

Penal Code No. 100/2015/QH13 (as amended and consolidated): Article 5 (territorial application), Article 51 (mitigating circumstances), Article 65 (suspended sentence), Article 69 (expungement), Article 134 (intentional infliction of injury), Article 140 (cruel treatment of another person), Article 185 (ill-treatment of grandparents, parents, spouse, children, grandchildren or a person who raised one).
Criminal Procedure Code No. 101/2015/QH13: Article 13 (presumption of innocence), Article 16 (right to defence and protection of the victim), Article 29 (language of proceedings), Articles 58, 60, 61 (rights of the person held, the accused, the defendant), Articles 73, 74, 76, 78 (the defender), Article 98 (statements of the accused), Article 155 (institution of a criminal case at the victim’s request), Article 183 (interrogation).
Law on Juvenile Justice No. 59/2024/QH15 of 30 November 2024, in force from 1 January 2026, where a person under 18 is accused.

A household case usually has a family-law side as well. See how UniLaw acts for individuals in Vietnam.