Domestic violence in Brazil involves any type of violence or abuse by intimate partners or family members against one another. The majority of domestic violence cases in Brazil are performed by the man against their female partners. In 2015, the government released a study that showed that every seven minutes a woman was a victim of domestic violence in Brazil, over 70% of the Brazilian female population will suffer some kind of violence throughout their lifetime and 1 in every 4 women reports being a victim of psychological or physical violence. In 2017, Brazil had an estimate of 606 cases of violence and 164 cases of rape per day, over 60 thousand cases throughout the year. It is also estimated that only 10% of the cases are registered to the police. Although Brazil acknowledged that domestic violence was a problem in the 1940s, the Government has only acted upon it from 1980s onwards, with the creation of the Women Police Stations (Delegacia da Mulher) and later in 2006, with the publication of the Domestic Violence law.
Domestic violence is legally defined in Article 5 of the Domestic Violence Law of 2006 as "any action or omission of action motivated by gender that results in death, lesion, physical, sexual or psychological suffering, moral or patrimonial hazard". Although the legal definition is explained extensively in the law, the identification of domestic violence is a responsibility of the victims or closer relatives.
Background According to the NGO Marias, there are several causes to the practice of domestic violence, such as alcoholism, adultery, jealousy, drugs, financial problems, and, according to professor Matthew Guttmann, anthropologist that studies masculinity for the Brown University, the main cause of domestic violence is sexism or machismo (in Portuguese). In his study, professor Guttmann proves that, against the common belief, the male violent behavior is not physiological or biological characteristic, but is the result of the culture of machismo, predominant in most societies, that reinforce the man's superiority to women.
In the Brazil colony period, men were considered to be "owners" of women they married, entitled to beat, violent or even kill, if necessary. A research conducted by UN Women and Grupo Boticário shows that even nowadays, 95% of women and 81% of interviewed men agree with the affirmation that machismo is predominant in Brazil. According to professor Stela Meneghel, post-doctor physician specialized in gender studies, the violence practiced against women aims to keep them in an inferior position in relation to men, while men usually fell they have to "educate" women about their duties and their position.
A study from the Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada (Ipea) shows evidence of widespread machismo in Brazil. According to the 2014 study, Brazilian society still believes in a patriarchal nuclear family in which the man is perceived as the breadwinner, but his rights over women and children are restricted and exclude open and extreme forms of violence. The women, on the other side, should "give herself respect" and behave according to the traditional family models.
The survey reveals acceptance of some kind of intervention in domestic violence themes: 85% of interviewees responded that in cases of violence, the couple should divorce; and over 90% agree that men that beat women should go to jail. The survey also shows that the Brazilian population is well informed regarding the origins of violence, 75% of interviewees disagree that violence is part of the male nature. However, There is evidence of widespread sexism, 58,5% of the interviewees believe that if women knew how to behave, there would be less rape cases and over 65% of interviewees agree that women that use clothes that show their bodies deserve to be attacked. There is also evidence of the widespread belief that the victim of violence should be the one to take action against it as reported that 65,1% of the interviewees report that victims of domestic violence that don't leave the abusive partners, like to be beaten. This assumption ignores all the social and psychological issues involved in an abusive relationship that may retrain a victim of domestic violence from reporting and leaving an abusive relationship. There are researches that propose a positive correlation between financial difficulties and violence: in scenarios of economical uncertainty and instability, the women is 1/3 more likely to be victim of domestic violence.
A research conducted by DataSenado in 2015 shows that 100% of the women interviewed knew about the existence of the Maria da Penha Law, showing the increasing education of the female population regarding their rights. However, 43% reported not to be treated with respect, an increase of 8 percentage points (vs 2013 survey), which may also indicate a change of the common belief of what if to be "treated right". In addition, women reported they feel more safe and started to identify and report more frequently the domestic violence cases. The same research shows that approximately 21% of the victims of domestic violence do not look for help and the main reasons reported are concern with children (24%), fear of aggressor's revenge (21%), belief that the episode would be the last one (16%), disbelief in the appropriate legal consequences (10%) and shame (7%).
A survey from the Justice Ministry reveals that 80% of the domestic violence victims do not want the aggressor to be imprisoned. The victims offer alternative solutions, such as psychological treatment (40%), aggressors discussion groups (30%) and mandatory services to the community (10%) and 9% of the women interviewed reported they felt totally or partially guilty by the violence suffered. To the professor Cristiane Brandão, Criminal Law professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), these numbers are the result of the predominant patriarchal and sexist Brazilian society.
Law
The Brazilian Constitution of 1988 previews equal rights to men and women, however, the first legal formalization against domestic violence was published only 18 years after constitution. The Brazilian famous law, Lei Maria da Penha was the result of an international process led by Maria da Penha herself. A victim of domestic violence, Maria da Penha Fernandes, was shot at by her husband with a rifle, who also tried to electrocute her in the bathroom. As a consequence, she became paralytic and started a long battle in court to convict her husband. In the 1990s, Maria da Penha appealed to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and, in 2001, she was able obtain justice and hold the Brazilian Government accountable for judicial tolerance of domestic violence. The commission also recommended that the Brazilian Government adopt more effective measures against women violence.
Domestic Violence Law 2006 (Law 11.340/2006) The first legal form of protection for victims of domestic violence was published on August 7, 2006, by President Lula, who signed the Law of Domestic and Family Violence, also known as Lei Maria da Penha. The law previews mainly five types of domestic violence, as presented below: Psychological Violence: cursing, humiliating, threatening, intimidating, frightening, continually criticizing, devalue someone's acts in private or in public, and exercising any kind of emotional manipulation; Physical Violence: hitting, spanking, pushing, throwing objects, bitting, mutilating, torturing, using or not domestic tools, such as knives or working tools or gun; Sexual Violence: non-consented sexual relationships (i.e. while the partner is sleeping), forcing the partner to look pornographic material, forcing partner to have sex with other people, prevent women from controlling usage of non-pregnancy drugs, forcing abortion or preventing women from getting pregnant; Patrimonial Violence: control, retain or take someone's money, cause damage to other personal objects on purpose, retain partner's personal objects, personal documents or work documents from her; Moral Violence: offend or humiliate the partner in public, expose the intimacy of the couple, including in social media, public accusing the partner of committing crimes; Brazilian law prohibits domestic violence, and the government has taken steps that specifically address violence against women and spousal abuse. The law triples previous punishments for those convicted of such crimes, and also creates special courts in all states to preside over these cases. It is also the first official codification of domestic violence crimes.Report on Human Rights Practices 2006: Brazil. United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (March 6, 2007). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
The Superior Court of Justice (Brazil) has reinforced the law, by starting legal processes with only the violence event police report with no need of the violence victim being present or being the main complainer.
Update of Rape crimes in the Criminal Code (Law 12.015/2009) In 2009, the criminal code was updated to consider rape as a crime against the dignity and the sexual liberty, recognizing that all individuals, independently of gender, have the right to demand respect to their sexual lives and the obligation to respect the sexual option of other people.
Feminicide Law of 2015 (Law 13.103/2015)
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In 2015, President Dilma Rousseff approved the Feminicide Law that altered the Brazilian Criminal Code to preview the feminicide as type of homicide and a hideous crime. Feminice is the murder of women simply by their condition of women. Feminicide crimes are motivated by hate, despise or the sentiment of loss of property over the woman.
The law previews aggravating conditions that increase the legal penalty in 1/3, such as (i) crime committed during pregnancy or 3 months after child labor, (ii) crime committed against women less than 14 years old, more than 60 years old or with disability, (iii) crime committed in the presence of the parents or the children of the victim.
Government action
Delegacia da Mulher: The government acted to combat violence against women. Each state secretariat for public security operated delegacias da mulher (DEAM). These police stations are dedicated exclusively to addressing crimes against women. The quality of services varied widely, and availability was particularly limited in isolated areas. The stations provided psychological counseling, temporary shelter, and hospital treatment for victims of domestic violence and rape (including treatment for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases).
The stations also provided assistance to prosecution of criminal cases by investigating and forwarding evidence to the courts. According to the Ministry of Justice, while many of the DEAMs fell far short of standards and lacked strategies to protect victims after the reports were filed, they nevertheless served to raise public awareness of crimes against women."Mulher, Viver sem Violencia" Program: Launched on March 13, 2013, by the president Dilma Rousseff, this initiative aims to expand and improve the public services offered to women victims of violence. The program includes a series of initiatives as presented below: