Criminal Injustice

The Brazilian government is failing to prosecute violence against women in the home fully and fairly. Despite ever-increasing domestic violence (particularly wife-murder, battery and rap) impunity and discriminatory treatment in favor of the perpetrators of domestic violence are still the rule in the Brazilian justice system. Over 70 percent of all reported cases of violence against women take place in the home. Of these reported cases, a statistically insignificant number never result in punishment of the accused. In this report, the Women's Rights Project of Human Rights Watch and Americas Watch make a series of recommendations designed to promote equal protection of the law in Brazil without regard to gender.