THE CRIMINAL DOUBLE JEOPARDY AS A FUNDAMENTAL GUARANTEE OF THE ACCUSED: A BRAZIL – USA COMPARATIVE VIEW

Abstract

This paper aims to present the institution of criminal “res judicata” as a fundamental guarantee of the defendant, in the light of a comparative analysis of the characteristics of the acquittal´s inviolabity in Brazil´s and United States of America´s criminal procedural rules. To this end, the main outlines, and the limits, of "res judicata" in Brazil will be presented in comparison with the guarantee of "double jeopardy clause" provided by the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in order to establish these institutes as limitation instruments of state prosecution both in "civil law" and "common law" systems.

Keywords

• criminal “res judicata”
• fundamental guarantee
• acquittal
• brazilian criminal procedure rules
• “double jeopardy clause”
• limitation instrument
• state prosecution