This article aims to verify the understanding and role of the actors of the Criminal Justice System (CJS) in the face of the dimensions of lethal gender violence, due to the criminalization of femicide. In this sense, we conducted field research delimited in documentary analysis of police investigations, criminal proceedings, and judgments of the Jury Court on femicides that occurred in the city of Pelotas (Rio Grande do Sul), between the years 2015 and 2019. The general goal of the paper is to analyze in what forms the understanding of the dimensions of gender violence by CJS actors affects the victims (direct and indirect) of femicide crimes and how they communicate lethal gender violence to society. Specifically, we start from the theoretical analysis of lethal gender violence from a social phenomenon perspective to the construction of the typical criminal figure of femicide and its subsequent reception by the CJS actors. Finally, we developed the document analysis seeking to point out concrete obstacles to an intended policy of observation of gender diversity. Methodologically, the research is patronized by legal sociology, with field research based on the inductive method, on qualitative and quantitative research, with techniques based on bibliographic and documental analysis. Empirical research was developed based on data collection using structured forms.