Serial killers in Brazil: a mapping of the scientific researches and of the police investigations regarding serial killers

• Grant number: 22/15092-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2023
• End date: May 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology
• Principal Investigator: Stelio Alessandro Marras
• Grantee: Pedro Henrique Barbosa Borda
• Host Institution: Instituto de Estudos Brasileiros (IEB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The criminology, once guided towards the study of the criminal physical traits, went through a deep transformation during the twentieth century, towards the study of the "criminal mind". Nowadays, most of the researches which tematize the "serial killer", thus, revolves around areas such as the neuroscience and the psychology, in countries like USA and England. In front of this diagnostic, the aim of this research is to offer a mapping of this field of studies, observing the type of reception that are made of these theories and the impacts of that to the work of criminal investigation by a documental analysis of the collection from the Arquivo do Estado de SP - which has a series of documents from the Instituto de Criminalística and the Instituto Médico-Legal produced between 1892 and 1988 -, besides a wide survey of the scientifical productions about the topic, through different means. The central question is: how are serial killers are thought and investigated in Brazil?