STF judges the legality of the implementation of the guarantees judge

The Federal Supreme Court (STF) is due to resume this Wednesday (14) the judgment on the constitutionality of the guarantees judge, a mechanism in which the magistrate responsible for the sentence is not the same one who analyzes precautionary measures during the criminal process. The session should start at 2 pm. The implementation of the figure of the guarantee judge was suspended by an injunction by Minister Luiz Fux, the rapporteur of the case, in 2020. So far, the case has not been definitively judged by the Court. The adoption of the guarantees judge should have entered into force on January 23, 2020, according to the anti-crime package approved by the National Congress. Among several amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code (CPP), the package established the guarantee judge, who is the magistrate who must act in the criminal investigation phase, deciding on all requests from the Public Ministry or the police authority that concern the investigation. of a crime, such as, for example, breaches of secrecy or preventive arrests. He, however, cannot pass judgment. According to the new law, the performance of the guarantees judge ends after he decides whether to accept any complaint presented by the Public Prosecutor’s Office. If the accusatory piece is accepted, a criminal action is opened, in which another judge will act, who will be in charge of hearing the parties, studying the final allegations and pronouncing a sentence. In view of the delay in analyzing the case, members of the Court even publicly demanded a definitive judgment on the matter.

Agência Brasil