Narrativizing a Context of Gender‐Based Violence: The Possibility of Justice in Argentina's Femicide Law

ABSTRACT Latin American governments have enacted some of the most progressive laws against femicide in the world. Yet data show these laws have not prevented or mitigated the high rates of femicide. In this article, I conduct an analysis of four sentences tried under the Argentine femicide law that present a more nuanced assessment of the effects of this legislation. By analyzing rulings made by judges in different Argentine jurisdictions, I show that the law—when applied—can produce more gender‐equitable decisions because it challenges the historic sociolegal notions of the “crime of passion” and the “violent emotion” defense for cases of intimate femicide. However, I also posit that the law favors instances in which the victim was killed in the context of a heterosexual, monogamous relationship and underserves women who were killed in the context of sexual violence and under the influence of drugs and alcohol. By focusing on the utilization of testimony about the victim and her relationship to the perpetrator, I show how judges construct a narrative “context of gender‐based violence”—a condition that must be met for the femicide law to be applied. I argue that these sentences offer evidence that the femicide law—when applied—can (and has) countered misogynistic ideas about women's lives and deaths and contribute to a profound sense of gender justice for victims.