Project HYPATIA – Gender Violence: Exception or Culture?

Coordinator

Prof.ª Doutora Inês Ferreira Leite

Research projects

Hypatia consists of a pluridisciplinary approach to Gender Violence (GV) with a risk of lethality in the Portuguese context centered on the retrospective analysis of closed cases of homicide (and closely related crimes) perpetrated within intimate partnership violence (IPV) in which the aggressor identifies him or herself with the male gender. The analysis includes a control group of sentences pertaining to homicides (and closely related crimes) perpetrated within intimate partnership violence (IPV) in which the aggressor identifies him or herself with the female gender. The research project has the following main goals: (1) critical review of the risk assessment instruments used in Portugal given the results of the characterization of the IPV occurred between 2005 and 2015; (2) evaluation of how the risk of aggression and lethality has been perceived, assessed and prevented by the police forces and judicial operators in judgments in cases involving a lethal outcome in the gender violence context, taking into account the socio-economic, cultural, age, sex, gender and sexual orientation factors (decision maker, victim and aggressor) that may have conditioned this perception and assessment of any significant discrepancies between the victim´s risk perception and the institutional operators? perceptions; (3) proposal of adaptations or new instruments of assessment of the risk of lethality within IPV based on the characterization arising from the cases analyzed; (4) evaluation the impact of gender stereotypes on the jurisprudential decision of homicides and related crimes within IPV; (5) evaluation of whether there has been appropriate cooperation and communication between the criminal court and family courts, if the regulation of parental responsibilities in such cases was determined by gender stereotypes and if avoided secondary victimization; (6) propose legal and procedural measures aimed at (a) prevention and repression of genderbased violence with a fatal outcome; (b) the immediate protection of the victim (and children); (c) understanding by the various judicial authorities of the impact of gender perceptions and stereotypes on addressing gender violence and homicides in the context of IPV; (d) minimizing undue dismissal of criminal proceedings, unjustified suspensions of criminal proceedings or improper suspension of the imprisonment execution sentence; and (e) improving sentence effectiveness and recidivism risk after serving sentence by the convicted person.

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