“ESSA GENTE INVENTA MUITA HISTÓRIA”: REPRESENTAÇÕES JUDICIAIS SOBRE TESTEMUNHOS (A)CREDITÁVEIS NO JULGAMENTO DE CASOS DE TRÁFICO DE DROGAS NO RIO DE JANEIRO

Abstract

This article aims to describe and analyze discourses, practices, and moralities present in the representations of criminal judges when evaluating testimonial evidence in drug trafficking cases. Starting from the dense description of testimonies and testimonies observed in Instruction and Judgment Hearings conducted in the capital and metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro, as well as from the presentation of interviews conducted with judges who work in the cases, it is possible to conclude that are a process of discursive exclusion of subjects from moral classifications. The notion that certain witnesses are not credible is directly related to the way in which the criminal justice system attributes a presumption of veracity to the versions built by military police, consequently, granting a presumption of untruth in relation to the narratives produced by the defense, whether witnesses, informants, or the defendant himself. On the other hand, it reflects the very structure of Brazilian society that hierarchizes subjects, based on different treatments depending on the goods and social capital mobilized by those involved.