What is in the world is not in the records: the construction of the legal truth in the processes of drug trafficking crimes

• Grant number: 14/19557-8
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): May 01, 2015
• Effective date (End): August 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology
• Cooperation agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal researcher: Sergio França Adorno de Abreu
• Grantee: Maria Gorete Marques de Jesus
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/07923-7 - Center of the Study of Violence - NEV/USP, AP.CEPID

Abstract

In recent years the number of people arrested for drug trafficking is increasing in Brazil. Despite the changes made to the legislation in 2006 (Law No. 11.343/2006), these changes did not reverberate on the reduction of incarceration that, on the contrary, only increased after the enactment of the Law, making Brazil to reach the third place worldwide in total arrests. Some studies seek to understand the reasons for this increase. However, such studies do not observe (I) how legal practitioners (judges, prosecutors, public defenders and lawyers) are dealing with the cases of drug trafficking; (II) which elements are taken into consideration at the time of the court decision; and (III) how the evidence end up being articulated in a criminal arithmetic that takes into account discourses ranging from the defense of society to the combat of drug trafficking. The construction of the legal truth in the processes of drug trafficking is the main issue. One of the factors deemed important in this construction is the centrality of the police narrative. In this sense, this project aims at answering the following questions: (I) what are the conditions and possibilities that make possible the police narrative to be central to the outcome of cases; and (II) what discourses produced by legal practitioners make this narrative axiomatic. This research project aims to examine how legal practitioners produce and reproduce discourses that rely on police narrative as the master key that will define the fate of the defendant (or defendants). The police narrative present in the records of in flagrante arrests seem to govern not only how the process will unfold in the criminal justice system by legal practitioners, but also how they will conceive the facts, the evidences, the witness' and accused testimony. The research is being conducted in the city of São Paulo from the analysis of (I) 604 cases of in flagrante arrests for drug trafficking in the Criminal Court of São Paulo, (II) 71 interviews with military policemen, civilian police, judges, prosecutors and public defenders, and (III) field notebooks of hearings and trial of drug trafficking cases. The application of the Law, the way which police procedures are performed and how they are received by legal practitioners leads to questions regarding the legitimacy that the police is entitled with the other players of the criminal justice system. It is in this dimension that we intend to develop our analyzes. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MARIA GORETE MARQUES DE JESUS. VERDADE POLICIAL COMO VERDADE JURÍDICA: NARRATIVAS DO TRÁFICO DE DROGAS NO SISTEMA DE JUSTIÇA. Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais, v. 35, n. 102, 2019-12-20. (14/19557-8)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

JESUS, Maria Gorete Marques de. What is in the world is not in the court records: the construction of legal truth in criminal cases of drug trafficking. 2016. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD) São Paulo.