Absence is not presence: custody hearing in pandemic times

• Grant number: 21/07045-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: April 01, 2022
• End date: March 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology - Other specific Sociologies
• Principal Investigator: Jacqueline Sinhoretto
• Grantee: Bruna Cinquini Ribeiro
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Abstract: Custody hearings have the main goal of assuring the fundamental rights of the inmate. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the hearings were suspended and a discussion about holding them through videoconference was resumed. The discussion about videoconference hearings didn't start with the pandemic, but it was intensified. The aim of this study is comprehending in what way, the managing of social distancing, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the traits of unequal treatment and obstacles in the access to justice, in the custody hearings, are being reinforced or mitigated. Stemming from the hipotesis of a custody hearing goal reconfiguration. Using the qualitative method, a literature review will be made, also interviews with justice system agentes, through online meetings, and analysis of official documents and news. This study intents to examine the videoconference hearings discussion before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, analyse the implications of social distancing on the penal selectivity of the custody hearings and comprehend the rise of workarounds found by courts and magistrates to assure social distancing. (AU)