O poder simbólico: uma análise do habitus e o campo no Direito Penal

Abstract

The Brazilian Criminal System is stricken by flaws that become increasingly evident with the rising number of convictions in the country. Amid the precarious conditions of the Penitentiary System, a well-defined profile of person serving a custodial sentence is established – this can be analyzed, in part, by material slant, under the prism of socioeconomic conditions of certain groups. On the other hand, there is also a symbolic character that helps to perpetuate this. This article proposes to investigate this symbolic formation of the functioning of the Brazilian Criminal System through an analysis of habitus and field, concepts proposed by Pierre Bourdieu, in a way that aims at comprehending how they fit into the scope of Criminal Law while exploring them among legal understandings of different figures and instances of Brazilian justice, observing the way in which they base their discourse. The article is divided into four main moments: a contextualization of brazilian criminal justice, conceptualization of habitus and field, the propagation and perpetuation of the habitus in paradigmatic positions and its reflection in the pressures that the field exerts on other decisions. The main conclusion reached is that there is an aprioristic interpretation by the operators of the Law, without analyzing the details of the specific case, so that habitus and the field are manifested at a time prior to the technique, instrumentalizing the process, making it an end in itself and departing from the plan of effective judicial guardianship.