Coercive body interventions, nemo tenetur se detegere, and technological innovations: is this the end of the right not to produce evidence against oneself?

Abstract

This article addresses the nemo tenetur se detegere principle, which entails the right against self-incrimination, and its relation to coercive body interventions. The general objective is to analyze and conclude whether this right should (or not) be extended to coercive body interventions, often practiced under invasive manners. Also, it aims to assess whether such conclusion may be altered when faced with the novel, modern, and technological means of evidence-gathering, which allows for the collection of bodily elements under a non-invasive manner, without affecting one’s physical integrity when subjected to them. To this end, the theoretical and documentary methodology based on bibliographic research is used allied with empirical research. Structurally, first the contents and concepts of the nemo tenetur se detegere principle and of coercive body interventions are taken into account. It uses, in the aftermath, the jurisdiction cases from the European Court of Human Rights on the theme and the Brazilian reality on the jurisprudence, law, and doctrine instances. In view of the controversy on the subject and its discussion still insufficient on national soil, but already advanced internationally - including in a non-invasive manner and without jeopardizing the physical integrity of one submitted to the measure – the present study is important.