Os germens do crime: imaginário e política criminal em Fortaleza (1892-1932)

Abstract

This work aims to analyze the construction of both the representations about crime and the criminal and the criminal policy in Ceará during the late 19th century and early 20th century, which was thought by intellectuals in the midst of the process of social and urbanreforms that took place. in the state capital. Otherwise, we try to understand how a representation of the criminal profile was being forged and linked to the poor classes of Ceará by the speeches of political authorities, intellectuals and the press that were greatlyinfluenced by the theories of modern criminology - a scientific field marked by several theses, among which was Criminal Anthropology and Criminal Sociology - and which used them to reinforce social stigmas, contributing to the constitution of a social imaginary of crime which, in turn, served as a parameter for the formation of Ceará's criminal policy, guided by a stereotyped view of crime. the poor population and for a scientific discourse that legitimized these stereotypes and established new guidelines forthe instruments of social control. Based on the analysis of periodicals and official government reports, we were able to understand how, through the appropriation of criminal theses, discourses were fostered that associated crime with poverty and vice, at the same time that surveillance and repression mechanisms were postulated. to serve in the action against subjects seen as a threat to public order. Thinking about the criminalization process, the construction of the criminal category and how this was reflected in the elaboration of a security policy in Ceará helps to highlight the relationshipthat the State maintained – and still maintains – with the poor population, often seen as suspect until proven otherwise.