A CRIMINOLOGICAL-CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF STUDENT DISCOURSES ABOUT THE CRIMINALIZATION OF HOMOPHOBIA

Abstract

In Brazil, society is becoming increasingly punitive, that is, requesting the application of the penal system as an alternative to reduce crime. This request is fueled by the feeling of impunity and insecurity, often exposed by the media as content of criminalizing demands. However, this system reproduces mechanisms that govern Brazilian society, such as sexism, homophobia and racism. In view of this, the present work aimed to verify if students of the last year of the law course know the Bill of Law n° 122/2016 (“criminalization of homophobia”) and what positions these subjects emit about this legislative proposal, correlating it with theoretical-epistemological Critical Criminology and its approximations with Queer Theory. Then, an empirical research of exploratory nature was carried out, through the application of 200 questionnaires with last years' students of the law degree at a private university in Recife. The collected data were tabulated and analyzed using a quantitative and qualitative approach, demonstrating, above all, that the majority of respondents did not know the bill of law and, still, resulting in important argumentative categories for the analysis of the students' positions. This study may present contributions to the current legal teaching model and, further, bring more in-depth debates in the field of the implications of these criminalizing movements in brazilian context.