A perpetuação da cultura do medo na atuação dos agentes políticos: uma análise criminológica da estratégia de fearmongering

Abstract

Fearmongering is the term used when referring to the exploitation of the fear beyond the limits of proportionality and reasonableness, creating an alarmist environment to the pursuit of personal goals. It is a strategy employed throughout the years for the control of the masses that, in modern context, reaches its peak with the spectacularization of criminality and the elaboration of a punitive apparatus aimed, above all, to the neutralization of the criminal. Fear, as a political weapon, makes personal advancement possible in an environment in which the terrified population looks for a figure capable of offering them seemingly quick solutions. Through a literature review, this study seeks, therefore, to analyze the culture of fear and how it can be comprehended in the light of criminology when used by political agents. Furthermore, it was observed that, in a paranoid world, the emergency caused by the existence of an enemy leads to the adoption of a symbolic Criminal Law which, amid the suppression of guarantees, proves to be ineffective in resolving social ills.