Some critical considerations on the new social defense movement

Abstract

The article criticizes the New Social Defense Movement, especially in Marc Ancel's formulation, based on the recognition of the crisis of the penal system and the ineffectiveness of punishment as an instrument of prevention and resocialization. The author points out three fundamental flaws: the utopia of "resocialization" in a context where a large part of the Brazilian population has never been effectively socialized; the incoherence of attempting resocialization through custodial punishment, which is intrinsically dehumanizing and stigmatizing; and the incompatibility of the model with Third World reality, given the selectivity of the penal system. He concludes that the uncritical importation of the model by the 1984 Penal Reform generated a Penal Code inapplicable in practice, requiring a foundational social reform for any transformation of the penal system to be effective.