A violação dos princípios penais e processuais penais à luz do Massacre do Carandiru

Abstract

The present study aims to analyze, in light of criminal law doctrine and jurisprudence, the multiple violations of fundamental principles of Brazilian Criminal Law that occurred during the “Carandiru Massacre”—the invasion of Pavilion 9 of the São Paulo Detention House by the Military Police on October 2, 1992—which resulted in the death of 111 inmates. The justification for this research lies in the significance of the case as one of the most serious examples of human rights violations in the country’s history, revealing the profound rupture between the constitutional promise of a Democratic State governed by the rule of law and the reality of selective institutional violence. Accordingly, this research seeks to understand how the State’s structural deficiencies remain relevant and continue to challenge the criminal justice system’s commitment to fairness. To this end, the deductive method was employed, starting from the general theory of criminal law principles and applying it to the specific case, along with the dialectical method, which confronts the normative discourse of legal guarantees with a reality marked by contradictions and punitive selectivity. Regarding the findings, the analysis identifies a clear violation of the principles of the presumption of innocence, human dignity, the humanity of penalties, and the individualization of conduct. Furthermore, it demonstrates that one of the main obstacles to criminal accountability was the difficulty in individualizing the actions of the agents involved, which ultimately led to impunity. Therefore, the Massacre symbolizes a structural failure of the State and serves as a lasting warning of the need to effectively implement constitutional guarantees so that Criminal Law may fulfill its civilizing function