Justiça restaurativa e os fins da pena: um caminho alternativo que impacta na redução da reincidência criminal.

Abstract

This work analyzes the historical development of the purposes of punishment, as a whole, up to the present day in the Brazilian legal system. Following this, it investigates the limitations of the national prison system and examines whether Restorative Justice can be used as an instrument for preventing criminal recidivism and, consequently, for transforming social reality by achieving the purpose of punishment: resocialization. Methodologically, the research is structured on the deductive method and assumes a predominantly qualitative approach. It relies on a bibliographic and documentary review, empirically supported by statistical data on the prison crisis and recidivism rates, culminating in a concrete case study of a cybercrime processed before the Restorative Justice Center of the Federal Court of Uberlândia/MG. The results show that the traditional punitive model is bankrupt and mass incarceration reproduces cycles of exclusion and institutional violence, a fact that leads to a failure in the purpose of social reintegration due to high rates of recidivism. On the other hand, the analysis of the real case demonstrated that the restorative procedure, by moving away from a merely retributive logic and structuring an interdisciplinary plan based on everything built during the sessions, positively redirected the offender's abilities. Therefore, it is concluded that Restorative Justice can effectively function as an efficient model for crime prevention, capable of acting on the causes of criminal conduct and reducing the risk factors for criminal recidivism. However, the consolidation of this justice system is still little explored in Brazil and, consequently, there is a lack of comprehensive empirical data demonstrating this effective reduction in recidivism among individuals submitted to the restorative procedure, which highlights the immediate need for this statistical survey so that the system can be implemented more comprehensively nationwide.