"Domestic violence" and different forms of conciliation

Abstract

Alternative conflict resolution based on forms of conciliation have been identified as a possible response to problems of access to courts deriving from the numbers, costs and length of proceedings in the Brazilian’s judicial system. This paper focuses on these alternative forms of justice, regarding domestic violence matters. Using ethnographic methods of studies at Women’s Police Stations and at Small Claim Courts, the main argument is that the forms of conciliation can be very different, specifically, in these two institutions of the judicial system. The contrasts between moral values and the simbols used differently by these two institutions offer some elements for us to understand the context in which was created the Law called Maria da Penha, sanctioned on August 17th of 2006. After this Law, cases of domestic violence against women were excluded from Small Claim Courts in Brazil.

Domestic Violence; Conciliation; Women’s Police Stations; Small Claim Courts