A year of custody hearing in the federal judiciary in Recife:

a perspective from cases of the Fed-eral Public Defense

Abstract

The American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR) establishes the right of the prisoner to be conducted without delay to the presence of a judge. Although this rule was introduced in the Brazilian legal system in 1992, only in 2015 this norm was complied with the pilot project of the National Council of Justice. The presentation of the detained person to the judicial authority, without delay, aims to achieve the norm set forth in the ACHR, reduce the provisional incarceration in Brazil and curb the practice of violence against prisoners. Since its implementation, articles and studies on the custody hearing have been produced, but from practice in State Courts. This article gives an account of the dynamics and results of the custody hearing in the Federal Judiciary, based on the experience of federal public defenders in the city of Recife. In addition, some reflections on practices observed in this first year of action are proposed.