The reform of the Brazilian Code of Criminal Procedure

Abstract

The report examines the six proposals for reforming the Brazilian Code of Criminal Procedure published by the Ministry of Justice in 1994, the result of committees of jurists and consensus among legal practitioners. It describes the restructuring of criminal investigation, with summary proceedings, the simplification of ordinary, summary, and very summary procedures, the introduction of conditional suspension of proceedings and penal transaction, the revision of rules on illicit evidence, citation by edict, pretrial detention, bail, and appeals, as well as the simplification of jury trial. It concludes that the proposals seek to reconcile efficiency and garantism, modernizing criminal procedure, protecting the victim, and restoring credibility to the Judiciary, in line with the principles of the democratic rule of law.