POLICE INTERROGATION: JURIDICAL NATURE REGARDING THE BRAZILIAN DEMOCRATIC CONSTITUTIONAL MODEL

Abstract

This research explores the legal nature of police
questioning in light of the Brazilian democratic
constitutional model. In this context, the principle
of the supremacy of the Constitution prevails in
the national legal system. This means that all
other laws must obey constitutional precepts.
However, the principle of the supremacy of the
Constitution is not always observed in relation to
questioning in police headquarters, which causes
significant damage to the fundamental rights of
the accused in criminal proceedings. In academia,
there is much debate as there is no uniformity of
thought. Moreover, the interrogation sometimes
has a legal evidential nature, sometimes a
defensive nature in favor of the investigated, and
sometimes a mixed nature, with both evidential
and defensive informative elements. Moreover,
the practical implications for the criminally
investigated are quite varied, resulting from the
adoption of any of the previous mentioned types
in relation to police questioning. The
hypothetical-deductive method is used, based on
legislation, doctrines, and jurisprudence. This
paper concludes that, based on the Brazilian
democratic constitutional model, especially the
constitutional principles of ample defense and
adversarial proceedings, police questioning has
the legal nature of defense, and not evidential or
mixed nature, thus enabling effective protection
of the fundamental rights of the criminally
investigated person.