Between panic and silence the connection between press, public opinion and justice in the creation of the São Paulo experimental health unit

• Grant number: 20/11284-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2022
• End date: January 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology
• Principal Investigator: Liana de Paula
• Grantee: Thayná Bortoletto Dias
• Host Institution: Escola de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (EFLCH). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Guarulhos. Guarulhos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

How can public commotion about a violent crime guide the creation of security measures? Or guide parliamentary discussions about changes in criminal law? Can media coverage, when targeted at children and adolescents in conflict with the law, foster perspectives that lead both public opinion and experts to use criminal resources as a final solution to crime? In the light of the concept of "moral panic", we intend to investigate the coverage carried out by the Folha de São Paulo newspaper on the "Champinha Case" in 2006 and the impact of this coverage on the creation and implementation of the São Paulo Experimental Health Unit in the same year in which legal, ethical and political decisions are weighed. The objective is, ultimately, to identify the existence of a panic spiral in the case in question and the creation of the UES as a response to the public cry for justice. (AU)