Abstract

ALVES, Laura Maria Silva Araújo; ARAUJO, Telmo Renato da Silva  and  SABINO, Elianne Barreto. VIOLENCE AND CRIME IN LEGITIMATE DEFENSE: resistance and transgression of Amélia dos Santos (1921). Revista Teias [online]. 2022, vol.23, n.70, pp.114-128.  Epub Feb 23, 2023. ISSN 1982-0305.  https://doi.org/10.12957/teias.2022.67448.

This paper analyzes the case file of Amélia Moreira dos Santos, which took place in 1921 in the city of Inhangapy, in the Pará state. Amélia dos Santos – a poor, uneducated mother of two – was accused of killing her partner Manoel Canuto Limeira. Living in an abusive and violent relationship, Amélia dos Santos was considered by the witnesses as a hardworking woman, a good wife, dedicated to her home and children, already, for justice, an unqualified person and without character to raise her children. Amélia dos Santos, the defendant, goes to the jury on three occasions and is acquitted for self-defense. Amelia dos Santos lived in a social context that, despite establishing a discourse of morality regarding the female figure, still reverberated male power. In addition, a judiciary that reproduces an imposing discourse of gender concepts and stereotypes. Amélia's dos Santos criminal case ends up revealing, on the one hand, the violence suffered by many women in the capital of Pará at the beginning of the 20th century and, on the other hand, that they had no chance of defense and no social policy to protect against violence. However, despite facing patriarchalism and sexist justice, Amélia dos Santos resisted and transgressed the current norms, ending an abusive marital relationship.

Keywords : woman; violence; gender.

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