Políticas públicas para crianças e adolescentes: um olhar de atenção face às consequências do feminicídio

Abstract

Femicide is a gender crime and affects women all over the world. It was introduced into the Brazilian legal system by Law No. 13.104/2015 as a qualifier of the crime of homicide, whose penalty can vary from twelve to thirty years in prison, and considered a heinous crime, amending Law No. 8.072/90. The death of a woman because she was a woman justified the need for a specific nomen juris to name a specific death whose motives are based on gender (Campos, 2015; Bianchini, 2016), whether in the context of domestic and family violence, or because of contempt or discrimination (art. 121, §2, Inc. VI c/c §2 -A of the Penal Code). Femicide, especially intimate femicide, defined by the UN Model Protocol (2014) as that in which there is an intimate relationship between victim and perpetrator (partners, husbands, current or past boyfriends), highlights the reality of domestic and family violence against women, as it occurs mainly in homes (as compiled in the various editions of the Brazilian Yearbook of Public Safety), making the home the greatest space of vulnerability (Feito, 2007) for women and their sons and daughters. Femicide is rarely an isolated act; most of the time, its outbreak is the result of a continuum of violence suffered (Meneghel; Portella, 2017; Jung; Campos, 2019; Nogueira; Veronese, 2020). Nor does it end with the death of the woman; it brings with it repercussions of different dimensions, including the situation of children and adolescents who lose their mothers and are affected in their fundamental rights, such as the rights to healthy development and family life. Through bibliographical and documentary research and secondary data analysis, the issue of public policies for this group of boys and girls who lose their mothers prematurely is problematized. It was observed that, despite some existing initiatives in Brazil, especially with the entry into force of Law 14. 717/2023, which instituted a special pension for dependents under the age of eighteen of the victim of femicide, there is a lot of progress to be made, both in terms of monitoring, guidance and support for children and adolescents, as well as in terms of holding the perpetrators of femicide accountable, broadening the focus beyond the criminal response and the state, the latter for its failure to protect women's lives, because as such, femicide is a phenomenon with multiple effects and social impacts.