Characterization of court decisions for crimes committed in a context of domestic violence after the maria da penha law

Importance: The Maria da Penha Law (Federal Law 11340/2006) is an important legal instrument which institutionalized the issue of domestic and family violence against women in Brazil, conceptualizing and giving visibility to the hidden violence within the family environment, and acknowledged the responsibility of all people, and mainly the State’s, in guaranteeing and protecting women rights, with the creation of mechanisms to restrain and prevent all forms of violence against them. The present research is the result of a study carried out at the 4th Criminal Court of Ananindeua, of the Court of Justice of Pará. Objective: The objective of the research was to verify which crimes committed in the context of domestic violence are judged and how has the outcome of such criminal cases involving conflicts of domestic and family violence against women occurred in the Judiciary Branch of the State of Pará, Brazil. Methodology: a quantitative, descriptive and documentary research was carried out, and 311 court decisions handed down in 2017 at the 4th Criminal Court of the Municipality of Ananindeua, State of Pará, Brazil, were analyzed. Results: In 46.08% of court decisions, the statute of limitations on the crimes under trial had expired, followed by 24.75% of cases in which the defendants had been acquitted. Conclusion: Even with the change of procedure as a way of guaranteeing the effective protection of women and avoiding impunity, there is still great delay of the legal system in responding to the expectations of women victims of violence in the judicial sphere.