Neoliberalism and Criminal Policy in Brazil After 1988: between re-democratization and de-democratization

This article seeks to analyze key points of the criminal policy carried out by the Brazilian Federal Government in the decade following the enactment of the 1988 Constitution, to study the possible relations between such policies and the process of neoliberal transition occurred in the country during this period. In this way, it seeks to contribute with the discussion regarding the tensions between the aspirations of the implementation of the rights provided in the Constitution's text and the excluding reality of neoliberal reforms. Based both on Marxist and Foucauldian readings of neoliberalism, the article points out that there was an "active redo finition"(Dagnino, 2004) of concepts like"citizenship"and "human rights"and that these concepts were used by the government to enable the strengthening of re p ress ive measures. Based on that, the article also seeks to contribute with the debate regarding the "de-democratization"(Brown, 2015) process triggered by the spread of a neoliberal reason throughout different social spheres, and the debate regarding the convergences between neoliberalism and the strengthening of punishment and social control mechanisms.