The decision in Habeas Corpus 208.240 of the Supreme Federal Court from a criminological analysis

Abstract

This text comments on the decision in Habeas Corpus 208.240, where the rapporteur states that the personal search of the patient was conducted because he is black. The judgment considers the approach carried out by the military police null and void, given the manifest lack of founded suspicion, rendering the evidence obtained through the personal search inadmissible. Numerous judgments refer to police personal searches, justified by founded suspicion based on subjective impressions such as topographical factors, social status, skin color, or clothing. In light of the absence of objective criteria and the police officer's discretion in the approach, it is essential to understand that social and racial inequality has been the structural basis for the formation of Brazilian society. There is intensive policing concentrated on certain groups and true racial profiling in personal searches and the selection of potential criminals or usual suspects. The aim is to explain the foundations of the approach based on the positive criminological school and its similarities with positivist criminological perspectives. With such an analysis, it will be possible to understand that the criteria for personal approach by founded suspicion stem from concepts related to Conservative Theories with a stereotyped and stigmatizing link to the criminality of poverty.