WHEN THE LAW IS NOT ENOUGH: EVIDENCE-GATHERING IN FEMICIDE INVESTIGATIONS AND THE LIMITS OF THE TRADITIONAL CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION MODEL

Abstract

Despite the significant strengthening of the normative framework for the protection of women against violence over the past decades, Brazil recorded 1,492 femicides in 2024, the highest number since the enactment of the Femicide Law in 2015. Legislative progress has not been accompanied by the consolidation of investigative practices capable of addressing the complexity of gender-based lethal violence. This article analyzes the impacts of the lack of investigative standardization on evidence production in femicide cases. The study adopts a qualitative, descriptive, and exploratory approach, based on bibliographic and documentary research. Its theoretical framework integrates feminist criminology, critical criminology, forensic victimology, and Turvey’s (2022) Behavioral Evidence Analysis (BEA), alongside an examination of Brazil’s National Protocol for the Investigation and Forensic Examination of Femicide Crimes (MJSP, 2025) and the United Nations Latin American Model Protocol for the Investigation of Gender-Related Killings of Women (2014). The findings demonstrate that the predominant investigative model, centered on the physical materiality of the offense, is structurally insufficient to reconstruct the relational dynamics underlying femicides, thereby generating concrete forms of inadequate state protection. The article proposes a conceptual framework comprising twenty-three contextual and behavioral elements, articulated with the international scientific literature, demonstrating how relational and behavioral factors can enhance evidentiary production and strengthen the effectiveness of the protection of women's fundamental rights. This framework is proposed as a conceptual and policy contribution for future empirical validation in Brazilian contexts.