O trato político-criminal dos linchamentos no Maranhão: fundamentos do punitivismo e questionamentos à justiça criminal à luz do caso Cledenilson Pereira da Silva

Abstract

The present work aims to investigate the political-criminal handling of lynchings in Maranhão. Taking as a reference the incident that victimized Cledenilson Pereira da Silva, it proposes to analyze the phenomenon in Brazil, along with its logics and foundations, as well as to question the role of the Criminal Justice System in holding the lynchers accountable. Its methodological approach is deductive, exploratory in nature, and employs a qualitative-quantitative methodology, utilizing techniques such as bibliographic, documentary, and discourse analysis, as well as investigating a complex criminal case to meet the proposed objectives. The results reveal a complex, premeditated, and sacrificial form of collective violence that reflects an ideal of private vengeance, which may or may not be separated from the influence of state actors or mechanisms, and whose occurrence manifests the exacerbation of preexisting vulnerabilities within the social structure. The population of Maranhão is experiencing an epidemic of cases and an environment of constant rights violations, with the brutal beating of Cledenilson serving as a true paradigm of how the practice is interpreted in the state. In light of the persecution activities that determined the responsibility of the young man's assailants, the incoherence between the legal outcomes obtained and the complexity of the problem faced was demonstrated. Therefore, based on experiences from countries like Mozambique, Guatemala, and the United States, which also confront exponential scenarios regarding lynchings, the necessity for not only innovations in criminal law but also the interconnectedness of these with public policies—both combative and educational—was identified to confront the acts and manage the crisis they have generated.