Un monstrueux pervers sexuel ou deux ? Ethnographie d'un procès à la cour d’assises de São Paulo au Brésil

Abstract

In May 2008, a woman (Rose), 26 years old, was tried and sentenced by a jury to 26 years and 2 months imprisonment for negligence in the torture and murder of her daughter (Margot) who died on July 19, 2004 when she was 5 years old. Her partner (Gaston), a police officer, was tried months before and sentenced to 40 years imprisonment for the commission of these same crimes. The ethnography of this young woman’s judgment made it clear that she was condemned for having a « sexual morality » deemed incompatible with that of a « good mother », so that she could not also be a victim of the murderer but necessarily his accomplice.

Keywords

• jury
• sexuality
• criminality
• morality
• monsters
• Brazil