Lights, camera, jurisdiction: communication technology and the myth of transparent justice in Brazil
| Autor | Joana Machado de Souza |
| Ocupação do Autor | Assistant Professor at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, MG (UFJF) Law School, Brazil |
| Páginas | 2520-2529 |
2520 • XXVI World Congress of Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy
Lights, camera, jurisdiction
Communication technology and the myth
of transparent justice in Brazil
Joana Machado de Souza1*
Abstract: This paper approaches televising judicial proceedings as a relatively
recent innovation adopted by the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil and exam-
inesitspossibleeectsonjudicialactivityInitiallyitexploresthebureaucratic
conception of judicial activity from a classic civil law framework, in order to
point out how it has been undermined by the contemporary global expansion
of judicial power and therefore to contextualize the current claims for judicial
transparency and accountability. The paper provides an overview of how, when
and why we started to broadcast live, through “Justice TV”, the debates of the
Federal Supreme Court of Brazil, highlighting the contrast between American
judges resistance to and Brazilian judges optimism about cameras in the re-
spective Supreme Courtrooms. Ultimately it is argued that television judicial
proceedings can give the public the sense of participation in an extremely im-
portant governing activity, if only by observing it, nevertheless it adds the risk
that judges will tailor their actions in a populist direction, thereby undermining
someofthevalueofparticularlyconstitutionalreview
Keywords: judicial activity; cameras; innovation
1. Introduction
Atthesametimeastheyare puingforwardfordiscussionon
the agenda of the U.S. Congress2, the advisability of inaugurating the
practice of live television coverage of the open sessions of hearings in
1 * Assistant Professor at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora – MG (UFJF) Law School
– Brazil. PhD student in the eld of State eory and Constitutional Law at Pontical
Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). E-mail: joana.machado@uf.edu.br
2
Bill in Congress, January 2013: “Cameras in the Courtroom Act - Requires the Supreme
Court to permit television coverage of all open sessions of the Court unless it decides by
majority vote that allowing such coverage in a particular case would violate the due pro-
cess rights of any of the parties involved”. Available at: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/
bills/113/hr96#summary/libraryofcongress
Para continuar a ler
PEÇA SUA AVALIAÇÃO