Violence in Heterosexual Couples and Criminal Justice: Studies Conducted at the Special Criminal Court in Brazlândia, Federal District

Abstract

The article analyzes violence in heterosexual couples based on empirical research conducted at the Special Criminal Court of Brazlândia, Federal District, aiming to understand how this type of conflict reaches the justice system and what institutional responses are offered to it. The author begins with a conceptual discussion of violence, gender, domestic/family violence, and violence within heterosexual couples, arguing that the latter has its own dynamics, marked by affective-sexual bonds, power relations, psychological control, and a progressive escalation of aggression. Based on the analysis of 340 cases involving minor bodily injury, threats, and minor assault, the study shows that most of the examined cases concerned violence within couples, with women as the predominant victims. The data also indicate a higher incidence of occurrences on Sundays, in the afternoon and evening, and mainly within the domestic sphere, while also revealing underreporting of prior aggression and a high rate of victims withdrawing support for continued criminal prosecution. The article argues that the traditional responses of the penal system proved limited in addressing the complexity of this phenomenon, since they privileged formal punitive measures and engaged only weakly with the expectations of victims, who were more concerned with stopping the violence than merely punishing the aggressor. In conclusion, it advocates multidisciplinary approaches and institutional alternatives that go beyond an exclusively penal logic, in order to address conjugal violence with greater sensitivity to gender relations and to the social reality of the parties involved.