About “The chain of custody of evidence in criminal proceedings”, by Geraldo Prado

Abstract

This essay analyzes the book A cadeia de custódia da prova no processo penal, highlighting the theoretical and interdisciplinary constructions (philosophy, politics, and epistemology) developed by Geraldo Prado about this procedural institute, which, after the book was published, was inserted into the Brazilian Criminal Procedure Code by Law 13.964/2019. The article intends to explain the concepts of truth as an epistemic indicator and the idea of criminal procedure as a device, using Prado’s theoretical references (Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben, Luigi Ferrajoli, Rui Cunha Martins, among others). It intends to show how Prado’s theoretical and practical proposition, in addition to identifying the need for serious epistemological reflection about the preservation of the integrity of sources of evidence, broadly resumes discussions of the relationship between evidence reliability, the pre-trial stage, and the (rational) legal evidentiary reasoning.