Commentary: Madalena Duarte (CES)

Abstract:

The Maria da Penha Law (Law 11.340/2006), represents a milestone in the extensive historical process of recognition of domestic violence against women as a social problem in Brazil, and holds in its transcript many of the political battles fought by feminist movements and women in the struggle for citizenship for women in Brazil. The new legislation introduces substantial changes in the Brazilian legal scenario. Among these changes, of particular interest are those which relate to the role of the police.

Police service is regulated under Chapter III of Law 11.340/2006, articles 10, 11 and 12. In addition to judicial police activities - police incident report and the resumption of police investigations as instrument for the assessment of responsibilities in criminal offenses that fall under the law - police authority must also ensure, whenever a woman requests, the application of urgent protective measures. These measures are, for the most part, civil, such as requests for restricting orders for the aggressor, children custody and alimony. Police must also provide medical attention for the woman and security measures, relocating her to a safe and suitable place.

Another change introduced by Law 11.340/2006 refers to the possibility of carrying out the arrest in flagrante delicto in cases of domestic violence against women, procedure previously scarcely used in Women's Defence Police Stations. This research sought to identify how the flow of assistance to women victims of violence takes place, from the registration of the occurrence, through the deferment and monitoring of urgent protective measures, and onto the procedural phase of case trial. Another objective is to discuss the role of public security institutions and criminal justice for the management of conflicts related to gender violence, recognizing the importance of visualization and the processing of cases by the justice system, but pointing out the limits of criminalization to account for the conflicts that reach Women's Defence Police Stations and Domestic Violence Against Women and Family Courts, as well as the role of the feminist movement towards the legitimisation of punitive alternative, and the paradox generated by the supervision exercised by the state over the woman victim, whose expectation on pressing charges does not always correspond to the solutions offered by the justice system.

Bio note

Fernanda Bestetti de Vasconcellos -  Master and PhD in Social Sciences at PUCRS - Brazil. Researcher at the National Institute of Comparative Studies in Institutional Management for Conflict - INCT-Ineac. 


Activity within the Democracy, Citizenship and Law Research Group (DECIDe)