Two decades of relevant changes in the protection given to women under the Brazilian criminal law

Abstract

The paper reflects on the changes that occurred in the Brazilian criminal system in the first two decades of the 21st century, especially regarding the protection provided to women. It seeks to show that in a period of just 20 years, changes were made with great impact on the way women are seen, how their sexuality is treated and how violence against them started to receive differentiated attention under criminal law. To understand the symbolic meaning of the provisions in force at the end of the 20th century, a brief analysis of the values that guided the elaboration of the 1940 Criminal Code and that continued to guide its interpretation in the 1990s is made; from then on, the emphasis is placed on the elimination of characteristics of the criminal law that did not make sense in the social context, such as the overcoming the protection of “customs” by sexual dignity, the decriminalization of kidnapping for sexual purposes and seduction, the elimination of different treatment to crimes that offend men and women, the suppression of the figure of the “honest woman” and the end of the victim’s marriage as the cause of extinction of criminal liability. of the aggressor. Also in the sense of updating the matter, the incrimination of sexual harassment, the “Maria da Penha” Law and the prevention and repression of domestic violence, the authorization of abortion of anencephalic fetus, the creation of the figure of feminicide and new incriminations such as sexual nuisance and revenge porn. For a theme that is closely linked to values that are firmly rooted in society, the changes made in two decades characterize an unprecedented advance in protecting women.