Electronic Surveillance and Social Stigma: Perspectives on People Monitoring in Brazil

Abstract

This study seeks to assess the stigma caused by electronic monitoring of individuals and its impact on society. The problem guiding the research can be summarized in the following question: Can electronic monitoring be considered a form of social stigma? Based on data collected from a series of studies conducted on the topic in the field of Law and Political Science, reflected in the bibliography that supports this study, it becomes possible to affirm that, like incarceration, electronic monitoring is also a form of stigmatizing the individual. Electronic monitoring is a tool that identifies the individual as someone who has committed a crime and, like all stigmas, it differentiates them from the rest of the population, thereby causing prejudices and other forms of discrimination. The general objective of the research is to assess how electronic monitoring generates stigmatized bodies in society. To give substance to the general objective, the specific objectives of the text, which are reflected in its structure in two sections, are: a) to evaluate, based on studies already conducted in the field of Law and Criminology, the concept of stigma and who the stigmatized people were throughout social evolution; b) to investigate how electronic monitoring is characterized by creating stigmatized bodies. The research method employed was hypothetical-deductive through the use of bibliographic and documentary research techniques.

Keywords

• stigmatized bodies
• stigma
• social exclusion
• minorities
• electronic monitoring