Law enforcement at issue: constitutionality of the maria da penha law in brazilian courts*

Approved by the President of the Republi c more than five years ago, the Maria da Penha law is the first Brazilian law providing comprehensive measures to inhibit domestic violence against women. As of September 22, 2006, Law 11340/2006 was named Maria da Penha law after an episode of domestic violence suffered by Mrs. Maria da Penha Maia Fernandes1 that had wide repercussion in Brazil. The legislation was a result of decades of advocacy by Brazilian feminists for the regulation of Article 226, 8 of the Federal Constitution. This article demands that the State “ensure assistance to the family in the person of each of its members, creating mechanisms to suppress violence within the family” (BRASIL, 1988). The bill has also been influenced by the demands of international treaties that Brazil has signed, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979), the Convention of Belém do Pará (1994) and the Beijing Women’s Conference (1995). Needless to say, it stands as a milestone for the fight against gender-based violence as a social problem in Brazil. The Maria da Penha law has established new measures and made significant changes to the way the Brazilian legal system addressed the issue. For instance,