Agendas en competencia para abordar la violencia intrafamiliar: Justicia restaurativa vs. punitivismo

This study examines how actors promoting restorative justice agendas and punitive agendas have competed for defining measures to deal with domestic violence in the context of the 2004 Criminal Procedure Code. In recent years, punitive agendas have won in the competition to affect legal reform. Criminal sanction and crime control measures have been offered in response to the subordination of women and to violence against women within the family. This article assesses some of the consequences of the enactment of crime control measures to face domestic violence. Providing quantitative and qualitative data, I conclude that the effectiveness of the punitive approach to this form of violence is debatable. Although imprisonment for domestic violence has increased, it remains quite low in relation to other offenses. The punitive approach may have also had the unintended result of alienating some victims from the criminal process and discouraging others from cooperating with prosecutors. These mixed results indicate that women's advocates should be cautious about promoting punitive strategies to deal with domestic violence.