Domestic violence and the challenges to the enforcement of the Maria da Penha Law: analyzing the decisions of the Courts of Justice from Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo

• Autor(a) principal: Nascimento, Flávia Passeri
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Outros Autores: Severi, Fabiana Cristina
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Eletrônica Direito e Sociedade - REDES
• Texto Completo: https://revistas.unilasalle.edu.br/index.php/redes/article/view/5229
• topic: Maria da Penha Law; Law 11340/2006; General Recommendation on Women’s Access to Justice; Gender Violence; Domestic Violence.; ciências sociais aplicadas; direito; direitos humanos das mulheres; Lei Maria da Penha; Lei 11.340/2006; Recomendação Geral n. 33 da CEDAW; Violência de gênero; Violência Doméstica.

In this paper we seek to analyze the challenges faced in legal interpretation and practical application of Maria da Penha Law. To that end, three questions guided our research: how do Brazilian judges and courts interpret and, therefore, apply this Law? Who have been granted its application? Who has been requesting its application? Based on an empirical quantitative research in the Minas Gerais (TJMG) and São Paulo (TJSP) Courts, we have concluded that although Maria da Penha Law has been created to protect exclusively the feminine gender, the Courts have applied it for victims who were not women when their vulnerability were recognized. On the other hand, they have not applied it to female victims when the Courts could not recognize the woman’s vulnerability or the existence of gender violence, or when the victim did not fit the stereotype “grown woman whose abuser is a man”.