Até que a morte nos separe

: o homicídio do agressor como única saída para a vítima de violência doméstica: seu enquadramento jurídico

Abstract

Domestic violence is a social scourge that is increasingly recognized and less tolerated by society. However, this same circumstance which is repudiated is often not taken into account in cases where the victim becomes the aggressor, because she sees no other way to get out of the terror that haunts her. The unpredictability and uncertainty of solutions have led us to ask what the most appropriate and fair legal and criminal framework for women victims of domestic abuse is who end up killing their aggressor. The main objective of this dissertation is to elucidate whether the defendant can be acquitted under self-defense because the unlawfulness of the conduct is excluded or if she crosses the barrier of the necessary means to repel an aggression that has not yet begun, can she be subrogated to the figure of ‘’preventive’’ self-defense. Furthermore, if there is no justification for the homicidal conduct, does it fall under the crime of privileged homicide if it is concluded that the defendant acted out of a state of affection that significantly diminishes her guilt. We’ll also look at psychological phenomena in the context of violence against women and their impact as a factor that excludes or mitigates criminal liability for homicide in the legal systems of Brazil, Spain, and the USA.

Date of Award	30 Sept 2024
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Maria Elisabete Ferreira (Supervisor)