Public presentation of the “Evaluative Study on the impact of measures applied to offenders” (IMAPA) | 8 July 2021 (event in digital format)
On 8 July 2021, the Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra (CES) held a public presentation session of the research project “Evaluative study on the impact of measures applied to offenders” (IMAPA). The research project IMAPA is being developed at CES, through its Permanent Observatory for Justice (OPJ-CES), and in partnership with the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies, the High Judicial Council, the Public Prosecution Office, the Directorate-General for Rehabilitation and Prison Services and the Public Security Police. It is a project funded by EEA Grants 2014-2021 – European Economic Area Financial Mechanism, operated by the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality.
At the opening session, António Sousa Ribeiro, Director of the Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra, welcomed the relevance of the studies carried out within the scope of the OPJ-CES as facilitators of reflection and the production of knowledge, as well as being important for having a direct impact on society and people’s lives.
Ellen Aabø, Chargé d’Affaires of the Norwegian Embassy in Portugal, offered her congratulations, on behalf of Norway – one of the EEA Grants donor countries – for the work initiated as a consequence of the study and highlighted the benefit that can be drawn from its results both for Portugal and Norway.
Susana Ramos, Coordinator of the National Management Unit of the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism, explained the background of EEA Grants, the various priority sectors in which the Mechanism has provided essential support, such as blue growth, environmental protection, adaptation to climate change, promotion of renewable energy, strengthening of civil society, social and human development, protection of cultural heritage, promotion of gender equality and prevention of domestic violence.
Rosa Monteiro, Secretary of State for Citizenship and Equality, highlighted the advances, over the past 20 years, in knowledge, support and protection mechanisms for victims, social recognition of violence against women and domestic violence, and in particular, programmes targeting offenders, such as the Programme for Offenders of Domestic Violence (PAVD) and the Electronic Surveillance System for Offenders, both managed by the Directorate-General for Rehabilitation and Prison Services (DGRSP).
She also reported on the measures already implemented following the approval of the Resolution of the Council of Ministers No. 139/2019, in an absolutely unprecedented work of intersectoral cooperation, such as the preparation of the Functional Performance Manual to be adopted by the Criminal Police Bodies in the 72 hours following the submission of a complaint, the Guide to Integrated Intervention for Child or Young Victims of Domestic Violence, the Guide to Minimum Requirements for Primary Prevention Programmes and Projects, the Annual Plan of Joint Training on Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, the revision of the Status of Victims, and the revision of the standard report on domestic violence. In the field of health, she highlighted the establishment of the National Programme for the Prevention of Violence over the Human Life Cycle and the Clinical Record Form for Violence in Adults. She also described the action mechanisms that are under development, such as the coordinated urgent action model, the enlargement of the current organisational model of the Support Units for Victims of Gender Violence (GAV) in the Departments of Investigation and Penal Action (DIAP) and the review of the model for assessing and managing the victim’s degree of risk.
A presentation of the IMAPA study followed, with a speech of Sandra Ribeiro, President of the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality, who highlighted the aim of EEA Grants in reducing social and economic disparities and strengthening bilateral relations between donor states (Liechtenstein, Iceland and Norway) and beneficiary states (in this case, Portugal). She stressed that Portugal is the only country implementing a programme that promotes Conciliation and Gender Equality and the three priorities chosen, in line with the National Strategy for Equality and Non-Discrimination 2018-2030 – Portugal + Equal: conciliation between personal, professional and family life, good governance and violence against women and domestic violence. She reported the existence of 25 approved projects (with 24 in progress and 1 already finished) and 5 under evaluation, which aim to benefit the development and support of public policies in those key areas. She highlighted the importance of the IMAPA project being presented.
Marina Henriques, researcher at the Permanent Observatory for Justice of the Centre for Social Studies and member of the IMAPA research team, presented the objectives of this research project, highlighting the three central dimensions of the fight against violence against women and domestic violence, which need to be further analysed and debated in socio-legal studies in Portugal and are the object of this study: the practical implementation of existing instruments for the immediate response to violence and the police precautionary measures or coercive measures applied to offenders; the impact of the measures or sentences applied to offenders, whether, in the first case, following the application of the provisional suspension of the proceedings or, in the second case, following a criminal conviction; and the link between the criminal proceedings and the proceedings for the regulation of parental responsibilities, when there are children involved. The four strategic axes were also presented, combining qualitative and quantitative perspectives, around which the research project is structured: reflexive systematisation of existing knowledge; systematisation and critical analysis of compared experience; empirical evaluation of the impact of the measures on offenders and of the existing mechanisms in the justice system; and activities for disseminating knowledge and recommendations.
The partners of the IMAPA project were represented by Solveig Bergman, from the Norwegian Centre on Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies, Sofia Wengorovius, from the High Judicial Council, Miguel Ângelo Carmo, from the Public Prosecution Office, Jorge Monteiro, from Directorate-General for Rehabilitation and Prison Services, and Hugo Guinote, representing the Public Security Police. In their interventions, they highlighted the importance of the subject under research and the commitment of each partner institution in joint reflection to improve the prevention and combat of violence against women and domestic violence.
This was followed by a conference, moderated by Conceição Gomes, Executive Director of the Permanent Observatory for Justice of the Centre for Social Studies, which had as its speakers Rui do Carmo, Coordinator of the Retrospective Analysis Team in Domestic Violence Homicides, and Joana Gorjão Henriques, Journalist.
The presentation by Rui do Carmo focused on the response to violence, particularly criminal intervention, based on his professional experience and the results of the work developed by the Retrospective Analysis Team in Domestic Violence Homicides. He pointed out the dual character of the fight against domestic violence, in particular the fight against its manifestations that do not immediately involve serious physical violence or death: against the aggressive conduct of the agent of violence; and by recognising that it is a violation of fundamental rights and the dignity of the person affected, who is therefore a victim, and there is no culture, habit or tradition that justifies it, as stated by the Istanbul Convention. Besides presenting important data on violence against women, domestic violence and the response from the judicial system, Rui do Carmo made a special mention of children, who are often present in families where this occurs and are strongly affected by it, emphasizing that “the simultaneous existence of criminal proceedings, proceedings for the regulation of the parental responsibilities and/or proceedings for the promotion of the rights and protection of the child, requires communication between them, collaboration and congruence of decisions”. He emphasized the importance of “a legal framework and an intervention model that are not yet completely stabilised and insufficiently applied”, considering that “a more informed practice can be helped with some precise legal improvements”. He also pointed out the significance of “very relevant tools that are still under construction or reformulation, and it is legitimate to call for them to be completed more quickly, because they were decided as urgent measures to respond to a social and criminal situation whose seriousness has not diminished” and of “instruments for innovative action, for whose effective implementation the entities and professionals involved in the daily fight against violence against women and domestic violence should be trained and mobilised”. He concluded that the future depends on “qualified professionals and the action of organisations, the adequate provision of resources, cooperation, the coordination and coherence of the action taken, the implementation of good practices, and reflection on and evaluation of the experience”.
Journalist Joana Gorjão Henriques presented some reflections based on the series “Domestic Violence in the dock”, a set of reports published in five chapters in the Público newspaper, based on ten domestic violence trials she attended, between 2019 and 2020, in courts in the Lisbon area. She underlined the fact that “what comes to trial is still the ‘tip of the iceberg’”. Through these reports, she searched for answers to questions such as “Who are the people behind the numbers, what are their stories, what brought them to court? How do judges assess cases, how do they treat defendants and victims? How is domestic violence prosecuted?” Aiming to achieve “a heterogeneous portrait of a crime that is more banal than it seems”, she identified some patterns, “one of them is the outcomes of these trials, which coincide with the large numbers of domestic violence convictions: most defendants were given suspended prison sentences”.
The public presentation session of the research project “Evaluative Study on the impact of measures applied to offenders” (IMAPA) also included time for debate, stimulated by some questions that the participants asked to the speakers.