Femi[ni]cide, Forensic Crisis, and Justice: The Need for a Victimological Standard in Forensic Contexts

The interest in studying Femi[ni]cide did not receive special attention until the last decades of the twentieth century. In Mexico, since the early 2000s, violence against women has been perceived as a severe violation of Human Rights, constituting a political, social, and immediate attention problem. Many forms of violence culminate in processes that kill women, girls, and adolescents; studying these differentiated forms of violence constitutes an urgent social need to be addressed. This chapter aims to bring an introduction and scope of Femi[ni]cide worldwide, the relevance of its study, current trends in countries such as Mexico, as well as the demystifying conception of men’s murders in the light of murder against women. In addition, this chapter highlights a social movement and phenomenon called “Forensic Crisis” that has directly contributed to how institutional (forensic) investigative responses against violence are handled. In addition, the chapter centers its attention on settings in which Femi[ni]cide evolves from being considered as a micro-victimization context to a macro-victimization problem whereby issues such as abuse of power, fear of crime, and victimhood constitute relevant circumstances that must be attended to in Femi[ni]cide towards the access of truth, justice, and repair of harm.