Whistleblowing e direito penal : análise de uma política criminal de combate aos crimes econômicos fundada em agentes denunciantes

Abstract

This thesis is mainly based on the intersection between whistleblowers, disclosure of sensitive information and criminal law. For that matter, the research aims to examine the juridical conception of whistleblowing and is set to understand why whistleblowers around the world are worthy of encouragement and legislative protection at the same time that a lot of them are criminally prosecuted. The fact is that their disclosure of information leads law enforcement authorities to discover illicit acts (of which the whistleblower has knowledge but is not involved). Thus, nowadays several countries around the globe created laws to incentive (legal protection against reprisals) and reward whistleblowers (with a percentage of the monetary sanctions collected by the state if the information delivered by the whistleblower was valuable to a successful legal judicial or administrative action). Unlikely others institutes related to criminal prevention such as plea-bargaining or criminal compliance, the practice of whistleblowing have its own specifications that will be examined in this study. The importance of whistleblowing has resulted in its legislative expansion due to the possibilities of discovering and preventing illegal practices through the disclosure of information by a whistleblower. The focus of my research lies in this figure that arouses so much interest, sometimes seen as heroic or as a traitor. Therefore, the research develops reflecting the possibilities of constructing a criminal policy based on this innovative kind of law.