PROTECTIVE MEASURES AND THEIR EFFECTIVENESS IN PREVENTING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Abstract

Domestic violence against women constitutes a serious social problem in Brazil, persisting even after the enactment of Law No. 11.340/2006 (Maria da Penha Law), which established emergency protective measures as the main instrument for protecting victims. In the state of Bahia, domestic violence rates remain high, with a significant increase in requests for protective measures in recent years, highlighting the gap between formal and real protection. The objective of this study was to analyze the effectiveness of emergency protective measures in preventing domestic violence against women, in light of the Maria da Penha Law, with an emphasis on the municipality of Ilhéus, from 2020 to 2024. The study was a qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive research, developed through bibliographic review and document analysis. Scientific articles from the SciELO and Google Scholar databases, legislation, and reports from the Brazilian Forum on Public Security, the Court of Justice of Bahia, and the State Institute of Public Security were consulted, covering the period from 2020 to 2024. Protective measures represent a significant normative advance; however, their effectiveness is compromised by factors such as the overburdened justice system, lack of systematic oversight, regional inequalities in the protection network, emotional dependence of victims, and institutional fragmentation, a situation exacerbated in municipalities in the interior of Bahia such as Ilhéus. The effective protection of women in situations of domestic violence requires, in addition to legal norms, an adequate institutional structure, intersectoral coordination, and profound cultural transformations that address the structural bases of gender-based violence.