Gendered decision on receiving a complaint for slanderous denunciation

Abstract

An acquittal of a defendant for a crime involving domestic and family violence against women due to insufficient evidence to support a conviction is theoretically based on Article 386, Section VII, of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CPP). An acquittal under these terms may indicate intent in the slanderous accusation of the woman who first complained, but it does not fully correspond to it, requiring further evidence to support its occurrence. This brief study, based on bibliographic research, aims to understand how a parallel between acquittal due to insufficient evidence (thus substantially motivated) and the intent required by the criminal offense of slanderous accusation (which includes knowledge of the accused's innocence) requires a gendered reading of the context of domestic or family violence against women. In the end, it was concluded that the application of the National Council of Justice's Protocol for Judgment with a Gender Perspective by the Judiciary when receiving the related complaint operates as a useful hermeneutical tool to remedy injustices and overcome stereotypes in cases of attribution of slanderous accusation to a woman who is primarily the complainant.