This dissertation is a study into the structural aspects of domestic violence against women, in particular psychological violence, and the performance of the Brazilian Judiciary system in dealing with this violence. The study attempts to identify how subjects adopt traditional cultural norms relating to gender roles, and how this may legitimise certain types of behaviour and render invisible more subtle forms of domestic violence. The research took place at two special criminal courts (Juizados Especiais Criminais (JECrim) in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro: JECrim da Comarca de Belford Roxo, and I JECrim da Comarca da Capital. The study takes the form of exploratory qualitative research and is based on analysis of extant court documents and on semi- structured interviews with complainants, defendants and mediators. The study evinces that the subtlest forms of domestic violence against women can become invisible as part of a gender habitus. It also evinces that in general, in relation to domestic violence, JECrim is ineffectual in safeguarding the rights of women.