A viabilidade da aplicação do princípio da insignificância pelo delegado de polícia

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the possibility of applying the principle of insignificance by the Police Delegate in the pre-trial phase of criminal prosecution, particularly in the context of drawing up an arrest report in flagrante delicto and initiating a police investigation. It starts from the premise that Criminal Law, as a last resort, should only apply to conduct that represents significant harm or threats to legal goods essential to the well-being of society, in observance of the principles of minimum intervention, fragmentariness, and proportionality. Initially, the analytical concept of crime and the relevance of the criminal type are examined, which requires verification of the material relevance of the harm for the configuration of the crime. In this context, it is demonstrated that the principle of insignificance acts as a cause for exclusion of material typicality, preventing the application of Criminal Law to conduct that is formally typical but lacks significant offensiveness. Next, the constitutional role of the Police Delegate as the authority responsible for criminal investigations is analyzed, addressing its function in guaranteeing legality and fundamental rights in the pre-trial phase. The possibility of the police authority applying the principle of insignificance is discussed from a doctrinal and jurisprudential point of view. It is argued that the reasoned recognition of insignificance by the Police Delegate does not constitute usurpation of the competence of the Judiciary or the Public Prosecutor's Office, nor is it confused with the dismissal of the police investigation, remaining subject to the subsequent control of the holder of the criminal action. It is concluded that the application of the principle of insignificance in the pre-trial phase contributes to the rationalization of criminal prosecution, avoids unnecessary mobilization of the state apparatus, and reaffirms the guarantee-based character of the penal system, in accordance with the values ​of the Democratic Rule of Law.