Justificativas e terminologias utilizadas em sentenças condenatórias de furtos simples e suas implicações: análise de sentenças dos estados do Rio de Janeiro e São Paulo

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the justifications and terminologies employed in judgments of conviction for simple theft in the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. The study analyzes how judicial discourse mobilizes retrospective elements of the defendant's trajectory to substantiate the imposition of custodial sentences for simple theft crimes. The research adopted a quantitative-qualitative methodology, utilizing data from SISDEPEN and content analysis of the sentences, examining a corpus of 108 first-instance sentences delivered between 2022 and 2024. The data reveal that judicial confession acts as a central evidentiary element in 71.3% of the analyzed cases. A sharp prevalence of convictions for consummated crimes is observed, reaching 84.3%, despite an expressive rate of full recovery of property, verified in 76.9% of the occurrences. This disparity suggests a punitive rationality geared more toward the moralization of the perpetrator than the effective restoration of property damage. Regarding sentencing (dosimetry), most penalties fall between one and two years of incarceration (77.8%), with the semi-open regime being the most applied initial modality, in 61.11% of the decisions. At the terminological level, recidivism appears as the predominant criterion in the reasoning, present in more than 40% of the mentions in both states. The study identifies the recurrent use of evaluative and stigmatizing categories, such as "personality geared toward crime," "dangerousness," and "way of life," commonly used to dismiss the principle of insignificance and justify the imposition of harsher sentencing regimes. Grounded in critical criminology and symbolic interactionism, the investigation concludes that the criminal sentence operates as a mechanism for labeling and social segregation. The reasoning tends to shift the axis from the "criminal law of the act" to the "criminal law of the perpetrator," reinforcing the system's structural selectivity. Thus, conviction acts as a technology for managing vulnerable lives, converting historical records into permanent criminal identities, regardless of the low gravity of the specific behaviors analyzed.