The Maria da Penha Law: Achievements and Challenges for Its Full Implementation

Abstract

The Maria da Penha Law has undertaken the challenging task of regulating private relationships within the domestic sphere, confronting both individual and unconscious resistance from women experiencing domestic and family violence; its implementation also requires overcoming prevailing interpretative paradigms, as well as institutional and structural resistance; the introduction of mechanisms that challenge traditional social structures continues to face opposition aimed at preserving socially constructed norms; the presentation of statistical data reveals not only the reality that the law seeks to transform and the difficulties faced by professionals in overcoming existing paradigms, but also resistance to the paradigm of complexity and to the law’s full application; it further demonstrates the legislator’s choice to compel the State to address violence through a multidisciplinary approach in order to prevent intergenerational violence; finally, the article proposes intervention strategies, highlighting the role of law in overcoming resistance through institutional policies focused on the internal quality control of official interventions.