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The Domestic Violence: A Multidisciplinary Reflection Beyond the Crime (VDCrim)

Presentation

Domestic violence continues to be a particularly serious social problem, not only in Portugal but also in other places. It is a complex phenomenon, due to its devastating consequences for the victims and their families, as well as its multifaceted causes that are challenging to fully comprehend even with the most accurate criminological analysis.

There is a widespread feeling or even conviction that the formal instances of crime control and domestic violence intervention systematically fail in their mission, and that the punitive intervention of criminal law comes too late. There is a sense of weariness or exhaustion with the legal system's actions in this matter.

This research project aims to explore legal, psychosocial, and pedagogical aspects that are more or less latent in the phenomenology of domestic violence and in the way contemporary society has chosen to address this reality. In this premise, the analysis of existing laws will be an unavoidable starting point, and the examination of the criminalizing norm contained in Article 152 of the Penal Code will be a necessary checkpoint on a journey that goes beyond the often formal universe of mere law enforcement and the exercise of the state's punitive power. As this is a vast and rich subject with heuristic and explanatory possibilities, domestic violence invites the development of a set of multidisciplinary actions and activities open to a plurality of perspectives and experiences that will effectively contribute to the construction of more effective narratives about how the community of historically situated women and men face the causes and consequences of this phenomenon.

Objectives

The main objective is to align the diversity of scientific and theoretical debates with a focus on a prevention logic that is sufficiently open to the serious and definitive integration of a new component in the complicated equation of the problem of domestic violence: the role of education in fostering a culture of citizenship and respect for fundamental human rights. To achieve this, knowledge from psychology, social sciences, and educational sciences, as well as their intersection with legal and criminal knowledge, will be crucial for a synergy capable of contributing to more appropriate public policies. Law No. 112/2009, of September 16, emphasizes the importance of stimulating initiatives that contribute to the more effective development of domestic violence prevention measures and victim protection. It is within this intentionally defined horizon that the proposed research fits, with the concern of making scientific efforts fruitful, in the name of the principle of equality, in the effective provision of services to the community, and in promoting the autonomous and socially responsible development of the human person.

Contacts

bruno.oliveira.moura@ulusofona.pt