by Rod Hughes

Police followup in cases of domestic violence has been mandated by a multi-agency task force, putting even more teeth into law enforcement in cases where women are targets of male aggression, the daily La Nacion reported today. In the past, police were often negligent about watching households where the husband, legal or common law, clearly constituted a risk.

The results of the joint conference follow closely on the heels of the new women’s protection law passed last week by the Legislative Assembly. The new law is even more strict than similar legislation passed in 1998.

The new protocol specifies that victims may be sent to a refuge when a restraining order has not been issued against their male housemate. In 2005, such orders were disobeyed 10% of the time, often with fatal results for the women they were supposed to protect.

Now violations may result in six months to two years in jail. Participating in the drafting of the new protocols were representatives of the Ministry of Public Security, the court system (including judges and its investigative division OIJ), the National Institute for Women, the child welfare agency PANI and the Ministry of Justice.

Old customs die hard and Costa Rica, like most Latin American countries, was a machismo society until relatively recently, where men ran the household often like iron-handed tyrants. Through the 20th century, however, this gradually changed with the women gaining the vote in mid-century and a rapid increase in the number of businesswomen and female politicians. The final blow that led up to the new legal procedures was a rapid increase in reported domestic violence that culminated in the woman’s death.