THE COOPERATION BETWEEN THE BRAZILIAN JUDICIARY AND FORENSIC SCIENCE INSTITUTES: IMPACTS ON THE RIGHT TO EVIDENCE
Forensic Science Institutes; Judiciary; Fundamental right to evidence; National Council of Justice (CNJ); National School for Training and Improvement of Judges (Enfam); National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
The general objective of this research is to analyze the technical and institutional cooperation between the Brazilian Judiciary and Forensic Science Institutes (Law n. 12.030/2009), as well as its impact on the exercise of the right to evidence in Brazil. To this end, the existence of mechanisms maintained by the Judiciary and Forensic Science Institutes, aimed at promoting knowledge sharing between forensic experts and magistrates is investigated using Recommendation n. 10 of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of the United States as a reference. Acts of the Brazilian National Council of Justice (CNJ) and the National School for Training and Improvement of Judges (Enfam) were analyzed, since these institutions are responsible, respectively, for the formulation of interinstitutional judicial policies and for defining the curriculum content of training and improvement courses for Brazilian judges. A shortage of mechanisms capable of fostering technical and institutional cooperation between the Forensic Science Institutes and the Judiciary was observed. Based on the rationalist conception and the teleological relevance of expert evidence, it was concluded that this issue impairs the fundamental right to evidence. The research adopted a qualitative approach and employed bibliographic and documentary research techniques.