Criminal abolitionism

a critique to punitivism and criminal populismo

Abstract

This article deals with penal abolitionism. Its main objective is to analyze the current Brazilian penal system from an anti-punitivist and abolitionist perspective, while presenting alternatives to the application of criminal law. Therefore, with the present work, the objective is to draw attention to the theme by pointing out the failures and inconsistencies of the traditional penal model to deal with resocialization, mass incarceration and prison overpopulation, while it suggests the search for a new way of penalizing the individual. Therefore, the text is divided into three specific objectives, namely: To present a brief history about punitivism; address issues related to the difficulty of resocializing those who are incarcerated, specifically those linked to Brazilian prisons; and, finally, to treat penal abolitionism to stimulate resocialization. The method employed is deductive, since it starts from a general perspective to a particular one. The research technique used is the bibliographical one, which is based on primary and secondary sources, making use of the provisions of the Brazilian Constitution of 1988, the Penal Code, as well as other sparse norms of the Brazilian legal system, as well as the available literature on the subject.

Keywords: penal abolitionism; punitivism; resocialization.