Custody Hearings and the Functioning of Criminal Justice: rupturas ou permanências?

• Autor(a) principal: Küller, Laís Boás Figueiredo
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Outros Autores: Nunes Dias, Camila
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Brasileira de Segurança Pública (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://revista.forumseguranca.org.br/index.php/rbsp/article/view/1045
• topic: Custody hearings; Criminal justice system; Pre-trial custody; Audiências de custódia; Sistema de justiça criminal; Prisão provisória

Custody hearings represents an empirical novelty in the field of criminal justice by introducing innovative procedures in the process that define whether a person ‘caught in the act’ by the police, will be detained until their judgment. Implemented in February 2015 in São Paulo, they were released as an important mechanism to reduce the number of pre-trial custody and assure a more attentive observation of prisoners’ rights and guarantees. However, the criminal justice system functions according to logics that have been historically resistant to the incorporation of democratic principles envisaged by the Constitution. This article presents some reflections made in the scope of the research “Custody hearings: a turning point for the Brazilian criminal justice system?”. The reserch points out the limits that are imposed on the innovative power of the custody hearings, starting from the assumption that they are part of a broader institutional arrangement, which encompasses a wide range of actors, from police agencies to prison authorities. Direct observations were carried out weekly in the period between May and December 2015, and represent the main field of analysis. In addition, research reports, press materials and data provided by the São Paulo Public Security Secretariat and by the Court of Justice of São Paulo were also used as secondary sources. The conclusion points out that, although it is possible to identify some points of inflection, with only the scene of custody hearings being analyzed, there are also permanencies, especially regarding the discredit attributed to the narratives of the arrested individuals and issues related to institutional violence.