A BLIND SPOT IN CRIMINAL LAW: the participation of legal entities in crimes against the democracy

Abstract

The article addresses the recent democratic crisis in Brazil, culminating in the acts of January 8th, through three main axes of analysis: (i) the causes and determining factors that gave rise to the present scenario of institutional crisis; (ii) the participation and responsibility of legal entities in this context; and (iii) the adequacy of Criminal Law in protecting democracy as a protected legal good, verifying whether it effectively fulfills its safeguarding function. The methodology adopted includes a literature review and a case study, with emphasis on the analysis of the Final Report of the Joint Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPMI) on these events. In the end, the aim is to demonstrate that, although criminal law is concerned with protecting the democratic order, it does not recognize legal entities as subjects capable of attacking criminal legal assets related to democratic security. As a result, there is a regulatory gap regarding the criminal liability of legal entities for conduct that may directly or indirectly compromise the democratic regime. The proposed analysis aims to highlight the need to improve criminal provisions so that legal entities can be held properly responsible in cases where their actions represent a concrete threat to the integrity of the legal assets protected by the democratic order.