# 3.3.3 Institutional barriers

This section explores the barriers that women faced as they considered or pursued help from formal institutions. Several types of barriers were described by research participants, which include: fear of retaliation from abusers, distrust in the effectiveness of the justice and police systems, negative experiences in reporting domestic violence to protective services, lack of information about services available, inefficient transition between services for survivors, and cost/distance of travel. Institutional failures (both real and perceived) compounded other risks and costs associated with a survivor’s search for help and created additional barriers for the women interviewed.

# _Fear of Retaliation_

The most common factor preventing women from reaching out to formal services or support was fear of retaliation by the abuser. This reflects at the same time the lack of trust women survivors may have in the system’s ability to effectively guarantee their confidentiality, protection and safety. As described earlier, women in situations of domestic violence are usually closely supervised by the attackers. Thus, seeking help from formal institutions involves a risk of being seen, having their activity revealed to the aggressor and suffering retaliation.<sup>19</sup> A 38-year-old woman from Manguinhos recalls how seeking help for the first time made her suffer more at the hands of her aggressor: “When he knew that I had come the first time, he went on to lock me up (in the house) ... I did not return again for a long time.” Findings from this research also show that when a survivor lives in a community context with low levels of anonymity or with service centers that are very exposed in the community, the risk of retaliation increases. In areas dominated by drug trafficking, women also reported fear of reprisals from traffickers, due to the fact that reporting domestic violence or accessing services could attract police activity into their communities.

# _Distrust of Judiciary and Police_

Another significant barrier to help-seeking was lack of trust in the judiciary and police. Participants in this research described the process of reporting and adjudicating crimes as costly and risky – physically, emotionally and financially. In both cases, survivors lack the necessary trust in the justice and the police system to act quickly and effectively enough to guarantee their safety and adequately protect them. Women communicated doubt that the justice system would actually punish perpetrators; and many perceived that the judicial process would be too lengthy. Women expressed serious concerns for safety, especially to the period between filing a complaint and conviction of a crime. One woman described her concerns this way: “Will my words before the judge be stronger than his words? A man talking to another man? And then, I’ll have to go back to that house and keep living with this man from that time on? The game would turn, but it would not turn in my favor, it would turn against me.” Another asserted, “women would die [waiting for the investigation after reporting] and only after that the man will be arrested.” Without a guarantee of safety, women who reported abusers acknowledged high emotional costs,

> 19 In DataSenado’s 2017 survey, an overwhelming 71 percent of respondents cite “fear of the aggressor” as the primary reason women do not report domestic violence. Fear of aggressor was by far the most important reason for not reporting domestic violence, according to survey participants. Other reasons included: concerns for raising children (32 percent), financial dependence on aggressor (29 percent), lack of punishment (25 percent), and shame (20 percent). Avon (2011) finds “fear of being killed” as the third most important reason why women continue in abusive relationships (after financial dependence and concerns for welfare of children). According to research by Patricia Galvao Institute, 85 percent of people feel that women who report their partners or ex-partners when beaten are at greater risk of being killed (2013); and 92 percent believe that when assaults occur frequently, the risk of death from domestic violence may be imminent (2016).

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