Política Criminal anti-pública: discursos punitivistas da bancada policial e a construção normativa de uma penalidade neoliberal

Abstract

This thesis aimed to produce a critical reflection on the intensification of punitive measures in Brazil, analyzing its relationship with the rise of political discourse from the 'police caucus' (bancada policial), which emerged in the National Congress as a cohesive parliamentary bloc over the past decade. To this end, the study sought to uncover the neoliberal rationality present in the punitive rhetoric of this caucus, problematizing the expansion of punitive measures through an authoritarian shift, materialized in the parliamentary defense of anti-juridical principles in criminal lawmaking. The starting hypothesis was that the State has succumbed to economic demands that now combine with symbolic and authoritarian agendas, transforming penal control into an apparatus of punitive annihilation detached from any commitment to due process and legal safeguards in criminal matters. In this context, the study also aimed to examine the alignment of Brazilian criminal policy with a certain “neoliberal rationality” and what this represents in terms of the persistence and contemporary relevance of this economic approach in current punitive practices.