Dados is one of the most widely-read social sciences journals in Latin America. Created in 1966, it publishes innovative works, originating from academic research, by Brazilian and foreign authors. Edited by IESP-UERJ, it aims to reconcile scientific rigor and academic excellence with an emphasis on public debate based on the analysis of substantive issues of society and politics.
Dados vol. 42 n. 4 Rio de Janeiro 1999
Abstract
The article suggests that practical reason theory offers the best means to understanding the decision-making process in a trial by jury. More specifically, it argues that the decision-making practices of justice staff are guided by 'dually structured' discourses, that is, by discourses that combine the moral definition of the categories 'gender', 'race', and 'work with legal definitions regarding defendants and victims responsibilities. Data from cases judging a total of 133 people by four juries in the city of Rio de Janeiro in 1993 are analyzed by means of statistical methods and the Galois lattice (applied in the formal analysis of qualitative data). This combination of methodologies seeks to address in empirical fashion theoretical problems related to structuration theory and other theories on social structure and practices.
Keywords: trial by jury, judicial practices, structuration theory
DOI: 10.1590/S0011-52581999000400003
Judicial practices and the meaning of sentencing
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