Penal abolitionism as a decolonial feminist project: challenging coercive human rights

Silvana Tapia Tapia
Assistant Professor, Universidad del Azuay
Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, University of Birmingham

In my recent article, Beyond Carceral Expansion: Survivors’ Experiences of Using Specialised Courts for Violence Against Women in Ecuador, published in Social and Legal Studies, I addressed the limits of the specialised penal system created in Ecuador — as in many other Latin American countries — to respond to women’s reports of domestic violence. The article demonstrates that very few complaints reach the sentencing stage, as most women “abandon” the trial after obtaining a restraining order against their aggressor. Frequently, this is due to fear that advancing the process will worsen their situation. However, the restraining order is invalidated due to lack of legal grounds when the criminal trial fails to progress, thus leaving women unprotected.