Analysis of the content and limits of patrimonial violence in domestic violence contexts

Abstract

This article provides interpretative guidelines on problematic issues raised by law No. 21.389, which creates the National Register of Alimony Debtors in Chile. This article addresses the new type of intrafamily or intra-affective violence of patrimonial nature (domestic violence). The two new offences created by this law are analyzed: patrimonial habitual abuse and repeated failure to pay alimony. This article proposes that the central element of patrimonial violence is coercive control in the asymmetrical context of domestic violence, understood as the power to obtain compliant behavior from the victim to turn her into an acquiescent being. The analysis of patrimonial violence concludes that although it is a type of violence different from physical and psychological violence, its result can be linked to these. Finally, though this article does not propose an all-encompassing concept of legally protected good, it does formulate a proposal for its interpretation as a 'versatile legal good' with a guiding function.