Arrebato y obcecación pasionalmente condicionados como atenuante por un femicidio frustrado

The paper offers a critical reconstruction of a recent judicial decision which validated the acknowledgment of ‘sudden heat of passion’ as mitigation ground in favor of a male offender convicted of a (‘last act’ attempted) femicide perpetrated on his wife. After sketching a reinterpretation of femicide as a ‘subjugation offence’, the paper explores the significance that the notion of a provocation by the crime’s victim acquires from a perspective that critically addresses the gender factor here involved. The last section of the paper displays an argument which shows the importance of avoiding, in cases like the one under discussion, the tendency to restrict the analysis to the features of the applicable rules and standards that are gender sensitive.