DAM FAILURE AND THE CRIMINAL LIABILITY OF LEGAL ENTITIES

Abstract

The collapse of the mining dam in Brumadinho (state of Minas Gerais) raised discussion about the criminal liability of legal entities due to environmental damage. Taking the theme into consideration, the objective was to investigate the efficiency of the criminal liability of legal entities in the context of the rupture of dams maintained by mining enterprises, with the rupture of the dam in Brumadinho as the object of special research and discussion. The dialectical method was used, making it possible to question and deny the certainties hitherto established, and, from this intellectual exercise, to extract secure knowledge. As a hypothesis, the imputation of criminal liability to legal entities reveals itself as symbolic legislation that translates into an apparent action of the State with the purpose of giving an apparent solution to the problems and challenges of environmental protection. Furthermore, it blinds the theme and prevents the discussions from advancing in the search for efficient answers. The article hypothesize the application of the Right of Intervention, proposed by Hassemer, through its manifestations in Brazilian Law. As a conclusion, it was identified that the absence of legal and material conditions for the penal accountability of the legal entity establishes a false perception of fulfillment of the proclaimed promises of environmental protection contained in the Federal Constitution of 1988.