Dispositive and structure matter:

describing the Maria Penha Law’s mapping

Abstract

This text maps and analyzes processes under the Maria da Penha Law (LMP). We move away from strictly legal understandings and apply the logic of violence against women in three procedural stages of action: 1) pre-violence; 2) immediate violence; 3) post-violence. The originality is in a proposal in three parts: 1) mapping the concepts involved; 2) map the dimensions of the law's operationalization; 3) map the Law process as a whole. Methodologically, we are guided by process mapping and we use frame and flowchart construction techniques and compare the existing literature on LMP. We highlight competencies at government levels; we delimited a procedural path; thirdly, we highlight the bottlenecks that are more evident and that characterize that particular process. By mapping these processes, we demonstrate evidence of weaknesses with a view to improving LMP processes. It is a law conceptually and technically operationalized by people in all its phases, which requires training and objective qualification for the bottlenecks that arise from it. At the same time, the LMP needs the continuous involvement of society in demanding compliance with the Law and, nevertheless, in demanding the attitudes and mentalities of those who implement it.