Crimes passionais e honra no Tribunal do Júri Brasileiro

Abstract

This thesis presents a study of ten cases of crimes of passion tried before the Jury Court (Tribunal do Júri), a Brazilian court with specialized jurisdiction over each of certain grave offenses in which a life is taken. A main objective of the study was to characterize the discourse concerning honor in the written and oral practices in the construction of the crime of passion, understanding honor as a value of the accused, both through their own eyes and through the eyes of the society to which they belong. Concepts of honor are discussed in connection with sociological, anthropological and juridical thought, more specifically in the figure of the passionate murderer within the presentation of cases of crimes of passion and in the analysis of the juridical "legitimate defense of honor", a discourse constructed in the narrative of these deaths throughout the process from the charge of the crime to the verdict of the Jury Court. The development of the text is based upon a typology of the cases using a qualitative approach and descriptive method. The construction of questions guiding the discussion in this thesis takes the following sequence: characterization of the concept of honor, overview of the Jury Court, account of a jury session, description of the cases of crimes of passion and analysis thereof. It can be seen in the conclusions of the analysis that crime of passion, discourse, verdict and sentence all have sociological meaning as expression of social traditions and moral duty, strengthening the discourse concerning honor in the narrative and reinforcing aspects of the construction of the social world.