THE APPLICATION OF THE CO-GUILT THEORY AS A GENERIC MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCE OF ARTICLE 66 OF THE BRAZILIAN CRIMINAL CODE IN THE LIGHT OF JURISPRUDENCE OF THE BRAZILIAN COURTS OF JUSTICE

Abstract

The Co-guilt Theory, invoked, at first, by the argentine Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni, aims to share the responsibility of the individual who commits a crime in certain circumstances, so that the agent has his guilt lessened, or even removed, on account of social and State failures that led him to practice the crime. This study aims to analyze the position of Brazilian Courts of Justice about the (in) applicability of State’s Co-guilt Theory while a generic mitigating circumstance of the article 66 of the Brazilian Criminal Code. The case study of the 27 (twenty seven) courts about the theme aims to subsidize an analysis both quantitatively and qualitatively of these courts decisions and their respective reasoning in light of what the author of this theory teaches, as well as the role of the Judiciary as an independent and harmonic power next to the Legislative and the Executive.

Keywords

• atenuante
• coculpabilidade
• genérica
• jurisprudência
• tribunais.