Male offenders who need to talk

It has been two years since the enactment of Brazil’s Maria da Penha Law that addresses domestic violence (Law 11.340/2006), and according to data issued by the Brazil’s National Council for Justice (CNJ), the state of Minas Gerais provides ample proof that detention is not the only way to make the law effective.

According to the CNJ, of the 150,532 thousand proceedings running in the 23 courts of justice across Brazil (with the exception of courts in the states of Rondônia, Roraima, Rio Grande do Norte and Paraíba, that did not provide data and were left out of the survey), a mere 2% of the cases, in other words, 1,801 cases resulted in a prison sentence.

In the state of Minas Gerais, the spirit of the Maria da Penha law has led judges to pass alternative sentencing for offenses that include violence against women and domestic violence.

Two good examples of alternative sentencing are compulsory membership in the men’s discussion group Andros, and the women’s discussion group V.I.D.A.(Violência interrompida, Direito e Ação, or ‘Interrupted Violence, Rights and Action’) both groups belong to the Albam Institute, an NGO specialized in gender-based violence. The discussion groups were made possible by partnerships created with Brazil’s judiciary, directly with the Promotoria de Defesa da Mulher, (that roughly translates as the Attorney’s office for the Defense of Women) to combat domestic and gender based violence.

The Andros men’s discussion group is four years old, and it predates the Maria da Penha law. It was created by the judiciary and the Albam institute to focus on lesser crimes and most especially, crimes against women. Offenses covered include assault, threats, break ins to the home, among others, crimes that previously were only given routine treatment in the Brazil’s special courts, Juizados Especiais Criminais (Jecrim).

According to Fátima Pessali, psychologist and founder of the Alban Institute, by starting a partnership with the special courts, it was possible to break the routine treatment given to cases of domestic violence in the courts. “Judges would often sentence offenders to pay fines or provide services to the community that not only failed to solve the problem of gender-based violence, but would also, to the contrary, serve to make it banal, “said Pessali.

According to Fátima it was based on observations such as these that the group was born: “We came up with a project to make male offenders responsible for their actions, by stimulating reflection in an approach that combines psychology and education in group meetings”. 

Andros sets up male discussion groups in the cities of Belo Horizonte, Neves, and others. The groups are open to men who have committed minor offenses such as those covered by the Maria da Penha law. Judges and attorneys decide whether offenders will be given this option.

According to Attorney Laís Maria Costa Silveira (photo) 90% of the cases that arrive at the Promotoria de Justiça involve threats and lesser types of physical assault that could be addressed through alternative sentencing. The discussion groups have become an option for dealing with the violence in such cases.

Silveira adds that the provision that allows judges to adopt alternative sentencing in the form of membership in discussion groups was based on an interpretation of article 22 of the Law (Law 11.340/2006) that allows judges to sentence the offender to frequent certain locations.

At the groups, words prod consciences

Men arrive at the discussion groups both prior to and as a result of sentencing. They may come via a court specialized in domestic violence (crimes covered under the Maria da Penha Law) or as alternative sentencing for lesser offenses from Brazil’s special criminal courts (Juizado Especial Criminal).

This was the case of A.J.S. who was given an alternative sentence for failing to obey a police officer. According to him, an argument over child visitation with his ex-wife escalated when she called the police, he lost his nerve and fought with the police officers.

AJS elected to take part in the men’s discussion group as a bargain to avoid criminal proceedings. He went to 16 meetings, and although he maintains his former wife should also have been penalized for helping precipitate the offense, he feels it was a good thing to go to the Andros group.

“I am against violence. But women are also more aggressive today than they used to be. I think there ought to be a group for them,” said AJS, adding that: “Here we learn about other people’s experiences. We learn by looking at examples of behaviors and their consequences.”

G.S, a security guard, also feels unfairly targeted, since he also believes his wife is partly responsible for his arrest, but he liked his first experience with the group: “I think it was fun. I could speak, listen to what people have to say, get some tips and even came to some conclusions based on other people’s experiences,” said G.S.

GS joined Andros because he failed to comply with a restraining order, which culminated in assaulting his ex wife who he felt was stopping him from seeing his son.

Alessandro Vinícius, a psychologist and Andros coordinator believes that men often feel they are being unfairly treated when they are made to join the group. “They arrive here feeling diminished and it takes a while for them to understand that they are responsible for the acts that brought them here,” he said. It is our role here to make sure they understand the situation seen from the victim’s perspective. If they can understand this, it can lead to a change in behavior,” said Vinícius.

It is not, according to Vinícius, a question of assigning blame, blame does not lead to change in behavior. To be truly effective, the process must be based on on psychology and education. ”Here people can exchange information, find guidelines, and of course there is a psychological side to it too. We work with patterns, points of view and feelings, “said Vinícius.

Attorney Silveira goes further. According to her, the discussion groups are important to guarantee that the Maria da Penha law is truly efficient, since the law cannot be enforced purely as a legal disposition. “We, the judges, attorneys, police officers and those of us who practice law, we are incapable of enforcing the law,” said Silveira, adding: “We need to have a multidisciplinary team to do it for us.”

Women's roles

And there is of course, the other side of the issue that must be given serious attention. The VIDA group was created for the female victims of violence.

According to Lucy Diniz, group coordinator, the approach in the women’s group changes somewhat. “When they arrive at the group, women are usually extremely fragile, they have low self esteem and feel incapable of taking any action,” said Lucy.

Zélia Lúcia is a teacher and became a member of the VIDA group because she was repeatedly assaulted by her son. She said it took her 30 years of pain and suffering before she was able to expel him from her house. “The group makes me feel much stronger, and able to take my own decisions. Alone you don’t think you can. Here we all have similar problems,” said Lúcia.

Psychoanalyst Malvina Muskat believes that gender-based violence must be understood from many points of view. “Are women completely passive in the face of violence?” She asks. He believes that discussion groups are efficient both for women and men. In her view punishment is not enough, men are violent because they believe it is their right. “Violence for them is often a way to put an end to conflict. Men need to be understood and heard. This does not mean that we are excusing their acts of violence. But men must be granted an opportunity to be heard,” Muskat said.

Results

There are as yet no official data to ascertain whether discussion groups are an efficient way to deal with men who commit acts of violence against women or in the home, this according to Amanda Alcântara Peixoto, a social worker at Ceapa, (or Central Program for Alternative Sentencing, from Brazil’s Seds, Secretaria do Estado de Defesa Social) responsible for monitoring whether men are complying with alternative sentencing.

Peixoto notes that when male offenders come to the end of their sentences, Judges of the Special Courts (Juizado Especial) set a hearing that convenes 20 men who have been through the discussion groups, Alban Institute psychologists and a Ceapa specialist, so as to analyze the outcome of the discussion groups.

Male offenders are usually defensive in the hearing, according to Peixoto, because of the presence of the judge, but when they talk to the specialists who monitored their sentences, they eventually open up and show that there were positive results. “Their attitudes, the things they say show that they have learned that it is better to talk than to use violence, in other words, violence starts being less natural to them,” said Peixoto.

But the attorney believes that the most important contribution of the initiative is the kind of opportunity that the discussion groups offer to both men and women. “The same way that women reproduce violence they have suffered in the past in their relations with their children, we understand that men also repeat behaviors that they have inherited. Both need to become aware of the cycle that they play a part in,” she said.