Criminal trials "on streaming": an analysis of the possible influence of the media on judgements by the jury in the light of the Brazilian Legal System

Abstract

Trials by the jury are certainly important instruments to ensure, to the Defendant and to society itself, the possibility of a judgment by peers in certain types of crimes. However, the excessive exhibition of criminal cases made possible by mass media has progressively put in check the Defendants’ guarantee of a fair trial in these procedures. This situation is particularly serious in systems – such as the Brazilian one – in which jurors can judge according to their “intimate conviction”, since there is a real risk that they will form their opinion, not through the evidence produced in court, but rather on preconceived ideas. In addition to the long standing incisive journalistic coverage, we observe that this issue has currently reached a new level: the release of films, series and documentaries about the cases, widely available on streaming platforms, even before the sentence. That being said, the aim of this investigation is precisely to analyze how media can negatively influence criminal trials by jury. For that, we will initially present the jury procedure provided for by the Brazilian legal system, with special attention to the issues related to the intimate conviction and the secrecy of the votes. Subsequently, we will present some exemplary cases in which there were proven deleterious effects resulting from the exorbitant media exhibition of the case before and during the trial. At the end of the paper, we will demonstrate that those repercussions go beyond the higher possibility of conviction (often undue), reaching family members and lawyers of the parties and even harming the Defendants in situations after the trial, whether with regard to the exercise of rights during the serving the sentence, or in their social reintegration after the release. Finally, we will propose some possible alternatives that, in our opinion, could improve the jury procedure in Brazil.