Legal Codification without Justice: Causes and Manifestations of Impunity in Latin American Cases of Femicide

In the last decade, Latin American states introduced a new norm into the international legal landscape through the criminalisation of gender-related killings, also known as femicide. However, when dealing with the human rights violation in domestic legal systems, impunity remains a persistent issue preventing victims’ justice. But, where does impunity come from and what shape(s) does it take? Scholarly knowledge of the specific causes and manifestations is still in its early development stages. In this article, we therefore study the nexus between femicide and impunity under the application of socio-ecological systems theory. Our aim is to define, conceptualise and show where impunity for femicide is to be found by reviewing secondary research from a selection of Latin American countries.