The proportionality of protection measures for cases of domestic violence in Ecuador

Abstract

Women’s Constitutional Right to a life free of violence within their family setting and for all remaining members of the extended family circle, entails to ensure through judicial protection the victim’s physical, psychological, moral and material integrity, including even the use, previous to the prosecution phase, of protective measures to prevent new assaults. Pursuing with them a legitimate purpose, however, it’s worth mentioning that it’s necessary to set the proportionality between the enforcement of said measures and the level of restriction that will be exerted over the defendant’s rights; especially when the defendant belongs to a group of people to whom the constitution grants priority attention. In these cases, how the judge should take action? This is the subject of this investigation that looks to promote the use of the argumentative method through the interpretation of the weight of the matter as the way to solve these difficult cases.