Memory and Truth in Contexts of Femicide as a Policy for Preventing Violence Against Women

Abstract

Brazil is one of the countries that most kills women for gender-based reasons in the world. Despite having legislation that is quite advanced in addressing violence against women, femicide rates remain extremely high. As a hate crime, femicide not only produces death and suffering, but also conveys messages, as it has expressive dimensions that communicate male sovereignty and contempt for the feminine. In 2025, some deaths generated wide repercussion in the media and on social networks, leading to public demonstrations in all Brazilian state capitals in an attempt to express political meanings centered on the defense of women’s lives. Thus, this study is based on the premise that femicides are political deaths with consequences that go beyond the private sphere and, therefore, must be managed by the State beyond the punitive dimension, with a view to preventing new deaths and violence in general. In this article, I seek to demonstrate that guaranteeing the exercise of the rights to memory and truth in the contexts of these crimes emerges as a fruitful path toward this goal. Through a literature review, documentary analysis, and semi-structured interviews, I discuss—based on two femicide cases that occurred in the state of Acre in 2020—how the State and society have violated these rights in criminal prosecution and in the ways these crimes are narrated in the public sphere. More than a mere denunciation, this discussion aims to promote reflections that may unfold into actions for the protection and defense of the lives of girls and women in Brazil.