Brazil’s Top Court Extends Its Domestic-Violence Protections Beyond the Home

Brazil's highest court has extended the reach of domestic-violence protections under the Maria da Penha law to include cases where there is no domestic, family or intimate relationship between the alleged victim and the alleged perpetrator. The ruling, issued on August 19, 2026, by the Supreme Federal Court (STF), means that urgent protective measures can now be granted for a broader range of violent incidents against women, including harassment by neighbors, stalking by colleagues, threats from customers, and stalking by strangers.

Prior to this ruling, such cases had to rely on slower, more cumbersome procedures or weaker protective instruments. The Maria da Penha law, named after a pharmacist who was paralyzed by her husband's shooting and later electrocution attempt in 1983, has been Brazil's primary response to violence against women for two decades. Its protective measures can be obtained through police stations and granted by judges within days, sometimes hours, making them the most expedient tool for addressing domestic violence in Brazil.

The STF's decision closes a critical gap in the law's effectiveness, addressing concerns raised by women's organizations and prosecutors that the law was most powerful in cases involving close relationships and weakest when the alleged perpetrator was a stranger. The ruling applies to all women in Brazil, regardless of their nationality or immigration status, and can be initiated at specialized women's police stations known as delegacias da mulher, which are located in most cities.