RESTORATIVE JUSTICE IN THE FRAMEWORK OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: the use of the support network as an inter-institutional connection in order to reduce recidivism and the volume of criminal proceedings.
Criminal Justice System; Restorative Justice; Domestic Violence Against Women; Maria da Penha Law; Support Network.
The aim of this study is to analyze the possibility of applying restorative justice in cases of domestic violence against women. Some of the origins of restorative justice will be explained, such as the legitimacy crisis of the current criminal punitive system, which is based on retributions. The restorative justice has achieved international recognition as a form of conflict management that is different from the traditional penal system. This research allowed to show that the restorative justice has different principles and values from the traditional justice model, also it encourages the victim's participation in conflict management, and attempts to restore any damage caused by a more context- and process-orientated approach that does not exclude or stigmatize the offender. This theoretical analysis of restorative justice was sought to find out if it is compatible with the principles and norms of the Brazilian legal system. In order to determine if the application of the restorative justice as a way of managing this type of social conflict, the topic of domestic violence was discussed on the basis of a short analysis of the Law Maria da Penha in combination with an investigative and qualitative research based on a case study of the project Ama Maria located at the district court of Brumado, Bahia. Ultimately, this work intents to evaluate if the application of restorative justice associated with the interinstitutional network cooperation can support the reduction of the outset and recidivism of criminal cases in Brazil.