The Brazilian criminal justice system on the macroscope: the activity of criminal, civil and administrative spheres over the same facts

Abstract

This project seeks to develop a conceptual framework to describe and explore the implications of the simultaneous intervention of criminal, civil and administrative law over the same wrongdoings. Brazilian legal system is governed by an unwritten rule that establishes "the absolute independence" among these three legal branches. Previous research on the topic has shown that the idea of independence usually means that the same case - including both the facts and the possible authors - can be submitted, simultaneously, to legal proceedings and sanctions from the three branches of law. Conceived in these terms, "absolute independence" is the reverse of the concept of interaction, or even coordination, among legal fields. This feature of the Brazilian legal system was first identified in systematic analysis of judicial decisions related to financial and tax crimes in Brazil. Nevertheless, only through case studies it was possible to obtain a much broader picture of our research problem. Case studies developed in the domain of corruption, cartels and human rights violations allowed us to depict the dynamics of the Brazilian justice system over the same cases and explore some of the implications of the "principle of independence". In view of that, this project aims to contribute to the debate concerning material and human resources of the justice system to address social problems, as well as the quality and consistency of its performance. (AU)