Legal relevance and application of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in domestic violence

Normative and practical analysis in the city of pilar during the period 2018-2024

Abstract

The application of procedural simplification mechanisms in cases of domestic violence generates profound tensions regarding the duty of effective protection of victims. The aim of this research is to verify the legal relevance of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, as contemplated in Law No. 1286/98 and applied to cases of domestic violence occurring in the city of Pilar, Judicial District of Ñeembucú. The methodology employed corresponds to a mixed-method approach, non-experimental design, cross-sectional cut, and descriptive-explanatory scope with a comparative approach, delimited between 2018 and 2024 to contrast the application of Laws No. 5378/14 and No. 6934/22. The techniques applied combined documentary analysis and interviews, through the use of a review guide for twenty judicial rulings and a semi-structured questionnaire addressed to judicial officers in the criminal law field. The results demonstrated that alternative dispute resolution mechanisms are not correctly applied by the judicial body, specifically in material terms; although formally they are legally admitted, they are granted automatically, with conditional suspension of proceedings predominating — a measure that is plainly ineffective in curbing recidivism in a phenomenon characterised by recurrent patterns of physical and psychological violence against women. It is concluded that the application of these mechanisms primarily serves prison decongestion rather than to ensure the safety of victims, which generates as an implication the need to restrict, through jurisprudence, the automatic nature of these procedural institutions and to mandate compulsory victimological risk assessments prior to their granting.