Violence and Borders: Dynamics of Punishment in the Northern Region (1964-2024)

• Grant number: 25/11624-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2025
• End date: June 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology - Other specific Sociologies
• Principal Investigator: Marcos César Alvarez
• Grantee: Veridiana Mott de Melo Souza
• Host 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

The aim of this research is to reconstruct aspects of punishment and, more specifically, the prison system in the federative states located along the borders of Brazil's Northern region between 1964 and 2024. On one hand, it seeks to analyze legislative projects and parliamentary discourses related to criminalization or increased sentencing proposed during this period, particularly those that invoked the social, political, and economic contexts of the Legal Amazon as justification. On the other hand, it aims to examine the transformations within the prison system from the military dictatorship to the present day, a period marked by prison massacres, rising incarceration rates, and the emergence of new dynamics surrounding criminal organizations - developments that have established a new reality in the region. As part of the research project, the scholarship holder will be responsible for collecting information from bibliographic research repositories (such as SciELO, Google Scholar, among others), as well as contributing to the maintenance of a database created for storing this information. The scholar will also support the research team in organizing official and unofficial documentation relevant to the study and will participate in the general activities of the CEPID NEV-USP program "Building Democracy Daily: Human Rights, Violence and Institutional Trust." (AU)