Brazil’s Maria da Penha Domestic Violence Police Patrols: A Second-Response Innovation in Preventing Revictimization

This article examines an innovative domestic violence intervention: some 300 “second-response” police patrols set up since 2015 by military police forces and municipal guards in cities around Brazil. They enforce court-issued protection orders by paying repeat visits to women at high risk, referring...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of contemporary criminal justice 2022-02, Vol.38 (1), p.72-87
Main Author: Macaulay, Fiona
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abusers
Armed forces
Courts
Domestic violence
Femicide
High risk
Homicide
Innovations
Intervention
Law enforcement
Military police
Patrols
Police
Prevention
Protection
Revictimization
Support services
Victimization
Victims
Women
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Summary:This article examines an innovative domestic violence intervention: some 300 “second-response” police patrols set up since 2015 by military police forces and municipal guards in cities around Brazil. They enforce court-issued protection orders by paying repeat visits to women at high risk, referring them to support services, and ensuring abusers stay away. Drawing on interviews with officers who founded or now lead these patrols, and on local-level police data and studies, the article analyzes their origins and modus operandi and evaluates their impacts on victims, abusers, the community, and internal police force culture. Available evidence shows that victims enrolled in these programs are much less likely to suffer repeated assault or feminicide than those who are not. The article examines how this intervention fits with the other elements of local protection networks and compares these patrols with second-response police interventions developed elsewhere.
ISSN:1043-9862
1552-5406
DOI:10.1177/10439862211038439