The scourge of domestic violence

"In 2010, 43 women were killed by domestic violence in Portugal." Público sounds the alarm and devotes its front page to a list of the names of women killed by their partners (for the most part) or former partners last year. Commenting on the surge in the number of deaths, an increase of 29 over 2009, the newspaper describes the scale of the phenomenon as "devastating," and remarks on the contrast with neighbouring Spain — 71 deaths in a population 4.7 times greater — where the drive to end what is considered to be a national scourge resulted in the adoption of a specific lawin 2004. Público notes that the existence of shelters and special police units has not been sufficient to halt the violence and emphasises the fact that "this legacy" of the past "has now been passed on to a new generation:” most of the victims were less than 40 years old.