Abstract
This dissertation is dedicated to a political sociology of the legal profession in the white-collar crime field. My focus is on the expert group of prosecutors, judges and lawyers who have participated in criminal cases about corruption in Brazil (1985–2021). I am asking what are the modes of thinking (how do they explain corruption and where they locate its participants) and acting of lawyers (how do they use law in the white-collar crime terrain).
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Notes
- 1.
As sources, I am analyzing a qualitative and quantitative dataset collected in the binational project between DFG and FAPESP entitled “Organizational Crime and Systemic Corruption in Brazil”, on which I was a research assistant based at Heidelberg University. A third dataset I am referring to are the collective biographies of Ministers of Justice (1840–2022), compiled thanks to a grant awarded by the university’s heiDOCS initiative.
- 2.
The following definition of profession is used: “A profession is an occupation that is regulated through systematized, compulsory training and collegial discipline; that has a basis in technical, specialized knowledge; and that has a service rather than profit orientation enshrined in its code of ethics.” (Starr 1982, 15) For a general discussion, see Dubar and Tripier 1998.
- 3.
According to Article 109 of the Brazilian Constitution, the federal justice is competent for processing crimes related to the financial order. As a rule, the locus delicti, the place where the crime is committed, determines the jurisdiction, but the nature of the criminal offense might fix the venue—like when a specialized jurisdiction for money laundering exists—or the status of the alleged offender—such as what happens with holder of public office that have special standing (foro privilegiado). There is some contention in how these rules are interpreted, as will be discussed in this Chapter.
- 4.
Namely the crimes defined by the Brazilian Criminal Code (Decree Law No. 2,848) and other federal laws, notably Law No. 7.492/1986 about crimes against the national financial system; Law 9.613/98, (the Anti-Money Laundering Act), as amended by Law No. 12.683/2012; and Law No. 12.850/2013 (the Law of Criminal Organizations)
- 5.
Since Brazil’s anti-corruption law (Federal Law No. 12.846) was enacted in 2013, legal entities can be strictly liable for the occurrence of harmful acts carried out in their interest or to their benefit, but are punishable by the conduct of their partners, employees, representatives and third parties.
- 6.
The methodology departed from previous studies by the Organizational Crime Studies Team at Heidelberg University, specifically on a model employed for investigating court records from the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
- 7.
The first two dimensions of interest were broken down into different variables for which I had data available. Biographical data was organized in the familiar pattern of “one row, one individual”, with several columns of attributes; such as age, place of birth, gender, position, etc. My database of interviewees consists of two sets of variables: raw data and coded data. The raw data are columns with long text strings which are then coded into various variables. The coded ones (coded data) are simple columns with values ready or nearly ready for quantitative analysis, such as binary variables (0 or 1) on whether or not the individual has ancestry in a legal career (or legal ascendency).
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Trombini, M.E. (2023). Research Design. In: Legal Professionals in White-Collar Crime. Organization, Management and Crime - Organisation, Management und Kriminalität. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40747-6_3
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