Penas restritivas de direitos

Abstract

The punishment by incarceration, specifically the way it s usually applied, wounds the dignity of the human person, as well as not promoting the re-integration into society of offenders. It would be wrong, however, to propose its removal, because of cases such as dangerous criminals - whose segregation from the society is necessary - there isn t currently a suitable criminal punishment other than jail. For other situations, the alternative punishments represent an important step in the direction of solving some of the problems of penal confinement. In Brazil, the alternative punishments appeared effectively with the criminal law reform of 1984. Later, the Law 9.714/98 created new forms of alternative punishments and extended its use. However, this did not empty the penitentiaries and caused a bad impact in the Brazilian punitive system. Among the forms of alternative punishments, such measures as community services and confiscation of goods deserve mentioning as efficient methods in reaching the goal of punishment. The custodial option known as limited weekends still depends on the existence of appropriate facilities to aid its fulfillment, reason why this program tends to disappear. The temporary restriction of rights and the prohibition to appear in certain places have serious issues and for that reason such measures should stop being used. Alternative sentencing had been also mentioned in several other laws, such as the Consumer Defense Code (Law 8.078/90), the Law of the Special Criminal Courts (Law 9.099/95), the Environmental Crimes Law (Law 9.605/98), the Law on Money Laundering (Law 9.613/98), the Sposrtsfan Defense Law (Law 10.671/03) and Law of Drugs (Law 11.343/06)