BETWEEN PROTECTION AND PUNITIVISM: LAW NO. 14,994/2024 THROUGH THE LENS OF THE PARADOX BETWEEN FEMINIST CRIMINOLOGY AND PENAL POPULISM

Abstract

 Law No. 14,994/2024 transformed femicide into an autonomous criminal offense within the Brazilian legal system, increasing the penalty to 20 to 40 years of imprisonment, the highest provided for in the Penal Code. This article examines the legislation through the theoretical intersection between penal populism and the paradox identified by feminist criminology regarding the use of criminal law as an instrument for the protection of women. The methodology combines a doctrinal analysis of the normative changes, a documentary analysis of the legislative process of Bill No. 4,266/2023, and a comparison with secondary empirical data from the Brazilian Forum on Public Security. The article develops five indicators of penal populism and applies them to the legislative process, demonstrating that the law meets the criteria of accelerated legislative procedure, concentration on sentence enhancement, and the absence of proportionate preventive measures. The empirical data show that, over ten years under the previous legislation (Law No. 13,104/2015), femicides more than tripled, rising from 449 to 1,568 recorded cases, with no demonstrable deterrent effect resulting from punitive hardening. It is concluded that the recognition of femicide as an autonomous criminal offense has legitimate symbolic and doctrinal value; however, the normative framework as a whole reproduces the logic of penal populism by placing in harsher punishment an expectation of protection that it is structurally incapable of delivering. The article proposes criteria for an integrated gender-based criminal policy that combines penal protection, prevention, and the confrontation of the structural causes of violence.