CNJ launches fight against sexual harassment in the Judiciary – 05/24/2023 – Frederico Vasconcelos

For the first time, the CNJ (National Council of Justice) punished a judge based on the Protocol for Trials with a Gender Perspective.

The fact occurred a few days after the “Week to Combat Harassment and Discrimination”, when the courts, encouraged by the CNJ, debated moral and sexual violence in the Judiciary.

CNJ Resolution makes the application of protocol guidelines mandatory and promotes the adoption of this perspective in Judiciary Power judgments.

In a unanimous decision, the CNJ compulsorily retired, with proportional salaries, judge Marcos Scarlecio, from TRT-2 [São Paulo]for harassment and sexual harassment.

“What hurts the most in this process is that the behaviors were adopted and the condition of magistrate was invoked. I can because I am a judge”, said President Rosa Weber.

“This process is paradigmatic as it reflects a structurally sexist society that makes women invisible. And, more than that, it silences them”, he said.

The rapporteur, counselor Salise Sanchotene, described reports that include inappropriate approaches with physical touch and conversations about explicitly sexual topics. She said the judge used the position as a justification to convince potential victims to interact with him intimately.

The magistrate, who is a professor of preparatory courses for the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB), according to procedural records, approached the victims in their places of study.

“How embarrassing it is to read the testimony of one of the victims who was afraid of both academic and professional retaliation”, lamented counselor Marcos Vinícius Jardim.

suspicion of omission

In another case, by majority vote, the CNJ opened disciplinary proceedings against Judge Rudson Marcos, of the TJ of Santa Catarina. It will determine whether there was an omission by the magistrate in the testimony of the victim Mariana Borges Ferrer in a criminal action regarding the alleged crime of rape of a vulnerable person.

The decision followed the vote of the rapporteur, Sidney Madruga, who verified several episodes of “exaltation and conflict”, particularly in the lawyer’s conduct, which were not controlled by the judge.

In a dissenting vote, advisor Richard Pae Kim denied that the magistrate had been silent. He said that the judge made occasional interventions when they were necessary. Kim was accompanied by six advisers.

In a vote-view, the national corregidor, Luis Felipe Salomão, deemed it necessary to “deepen the investigations”. Salomão mentioned that, between January and June 2022, “a girl or woman is raped every nine minutes in Brazil”. These “alarming data reveal an unacceptable reality,” he said.

Rosa Weber recalled that the judge has police power in an audience. “Can you allow one of the parties to be mocked? I understand that you can’t. If you can’t, by not having a more effective intervention, you omitted yourself. Is that enough to condemn you? Maybe not, but to investigate your behavior, yes.”

She said that all advisers, for or against opening the process, agreed that the victim was humiliated. Weber recalled that “in the beginning, the process was archived and no penalty was applied”.

The counselors identified a systemic failure, which involved the judge, the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the accused’s lawyer.

Anti-Harassment Week

The two episodes are in tune with the spirit of the “Week to Combat Harassment and Discrimination”, at the beginning of May, when the courts carried out training to sensitize the teams on the importance of combating moral and sexual harassment, and discrimination in the environment of work.

Research by the CNJ revealed, at the end of 2021, that 40% of professionals were unaware of preventive actions in court and 18.7% stated that no preventive measure was adopted.

Below is some data on the debates during the week.

– At the TJ of São Paulo, the Labor Judge Patricia Almeida Ramosfrom TRT-2, stated: “We need to know the basics so that the concepts enter our heads and never leave and so that we do not reproduce this disease in our daily lives. Violence has always existed, but when it enters the spheres of work, it is the time to worry,” he said.

– “We need to work on the culture so that these facts do not happen. As important as punishment is prevention”, said the judge Irineu Jorge Fava:

– The judge Teresa Cristina Cabral Santana, of the 2nd Criminal Court of Santo André, said that “it is necessary to understand where [essas violências] arise, shelter the victims and work so that new aggressions do not happen”. She presented studies that point to lower rates of such violence in countries that have better indicators of gender equality.

– The judge Ana Flávia Jordão Ramos fornazariby Pereira Barreto, made a history of persecution and religious intolerance and presented data that prove the presence of discrimination in the country.

– At the TJ in Amapá, there was a live chat on television with members of the commission for preventing and coping with harassment.

– At TRF-4, the campaign “No Harassment” was launched. The lawyer mayra Cotta gave a lecture on the theme “Women, Clothing and Work”, with the participation of federal judges Fábio Vitório Mattiello It is Ana Maria Wickert Theisen. the psychologist Katia Lima spoke on the subject “Moral Harassment at Work: who will take the goat?”

– The judge gustavo cheap responded to questions about harassment and discrimination, at an event at TJ-GO.

– salise Sanchotene presented the experience of the CNJ in an event at the Federal Court of Accounts and participated in an event at TRT-6, with a lecture by the psychologist Michelle Rangel and presentations by judges Sarah Yolanda Alves de Souza It is Luciana Comfort.