Maya women and domestic violence in Quiché, Guatemala: access and operation of justice between charges of impunity and pleas of “minimum criminal law”

Abstract

Mayan women and domestic violence: does impunity is really the problem? To answer to the main question, it is important to dwell on the relationship between the criminal justice system and those women. In particular, over the early stages of the judicial path, the main issues concern the perception of domestic violence as an injurious experience and the expectations of the Quiché women related to the criminal justice system. These are two dimensions which may explain why very few Quiché women are interested to accomplish the criminal ruling in case of domestic violence perpetrated by their partner. Certainly, the connection to any NGO is the discriminant to acquire the necessary awareness and courage to denounce. However, it might not be enough. According to the Guatemalan institutions, the quiché women are used to denounce their partner (for scaring him) and then, to “step back” (once they realize he might be incarcerated). Yet, religious faith and the economic dependence might not be the only explanations of this phenomenon. As Hesse intimates, the institutional racism arises from the daily performance of the administrative system, in the frame of values enforced as universals. For this reason, the Bourdieu’s concept of symbolic violence might be entangled with the everyday racism, described by Essed. Consequently, some barriers to criminal justice are just invisible because they concern the habitus shaped by the overlapping of cultures, both for women and institutions, Indeed, the narratives of the individuals are intertwined with the collective one. From the Maya perspective, history is indispensable to understand the origin of the issue, as well as, emotions and relationships play a crucial role to find solutions. Looking at the accusatorial system by the point of view of the quiché women, it might help us to (re)discover a new inspiration to think about criminal justice and human rights.