O habeas corpus como instrumento de filtragem político-criminal: uma análise crítica da jurisprudência do STJ sobre o trancamento da persecução penal

Abstract

This study analyzes the role of habeas corpus as an instrument for reviewing probable cause in criminal prosecution, focusing on the dismissal of police investigations and criminal proceedings, as well as on the effectiveness of its political-criminal filtering function. It is based on the understanding that democratic criminal procedure should operate as a mechanism for restraining the State’s punitive power, conditioning the initiation and development of criminal prosecution on compliance with minimum requirements of material and constitutional legitimacy. The research adopts a bibliographical and jurisprudential methodology through the analysis of contemporary criminal procedure scholarship and the case law of the Superior Court of Justice concerning the dismissal of criminal prosecution through habeas corpus. Initially, the study examines the relationship between criminal policy and criminal procedure, highlighting the notion of political-criminal filtering and the substantive understanding of probable cause as a requirement for the legitimacy of State intervention. It then analyzes the restrictive jurisprudential approach to the admissibility of habeas corpus for the dismissal of criminal prosecution, as well as the legal, social, and personal costs resulting from the prolonged submission of individuals to criminal investigations and criminal proceedings. The study concludes that an excessively restrictive interpretation of the remedy undermines its constitutional function of restraining punitive power, making it necessary to adopt an understanding of probable cause that is compatible with fundamental rights and with the rationale of democratic criminal procedure, in order to prevent the continuation of prosecutions lacking a minimum basis of legitimacy.