Couples homicide in domestic violence. Female murderers and excemption of criminal liability

Abstract

The neutrality of gender in legal language and in the interpretation of Criminal Law hinder the appreciation of certain circumstances under which a woman subdued to violence in a domestic environment can give death to a spouse or partner, and that can conduct to an eventual exemption of criminal responsibility; an exemption that courts are unlikely to grant. The possible paths to recognize them vary between the general defenses (legítimate self-defense, state of necessity) and non enforceability causes (insurmountable fear, irresistible force), being the latter the most preferential in courts, which then impedes considering that the homicide of the aggressor may be a conduct permitted by law, preferring to subsume the female conduct to abnormal mental states.