Restaurative Justice at Risk: the criminological critique to the Brazilian judicial model

Abstract Based on the practical-theoretical accumulation of critical criminology and penal abolitionism (basic theories), the work analyzes, through case studies (methodological procedure), the effectiveness of substitutes for penal and penal procedures in Brazil. The experience accumulated in relation to the form of implementation of Small Claim Courts (Law 9.099/95), of alternative penalties (Law 9.714/98) and of precautionary measures other than provisional imprisonment (Law 12.403/11), added to the first diagnoses on the execution of the restorative practices, allows to project the risks of ineffectiveness or the distortion of its main objectives. The hypothesis developed in the article is that the authoritarian formation (and action) of the Brazilian Judiciary Power has prevented the full development of the decarcerizing institutes, in general, and of Restorative Justice, in particular. In this sense, it indicates the need for restorative practices to be guided by the guidelines pointed out by critical criminology and penal abolitionism, precisely with regard to the development of an anti-prison logic that opposes to punitivism and inquisitorialism.