Correios de droga: um estudo sobre a medida da pena no Supremo Tribunal de Justiça

The criminal policy program is reviewed in the punishment handed down, through the abstract criminal frameworks provided for in the various provisions that stipulate and punish each legal type of crime. Going beyond the previous model, the Code of 1982 gave them great scope and great number in the special part. In the context of the Division of tasks between the legislator and the judge, which the judicial individualization of penalties presupposes in the Portuguese system, it generally indicated the criteria to be followed by it in this task, while at the same time, it expressly signaled a subsequent legislative change, the end of the penalties, indications that did not simplify the legal practice, but led to unjustified disparities in the application of penalties. Contrary to the tradition and system of Anglo-Saxon, countries where sentencing guidelines guide the courts in this area, in Portugal, the magistrates of the Public Prosecution and the judges are essentially left to themselves. Therefore, it is important to know their perceptions of this problem, and contribute to consistency in the application of the penalties. In regard to drug trafficking, very severe penalties were generally imposed, which was extended to “drug couriers”, in which the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) began to draw up a table of essential data on its decisions, to increase the court’s coherence in the application of penalties and contribute to guiding other legal courts. This led to the suggestion of the Project to deepen this experience and collect data on the condemnatory rulings of “drug couriers”, the characterization of this category, the analysis and treatment of these data, comparison with the results of a previous study on the penalties applied to drug trafficking cases, seeking to obtain a an initial outline of occupation, by the judiciary, of the respective abstract framework, with the indication of the minimum and maximum limits of this occupation and the typical penalties applied.