AGREEMENTS BETWEEN THE PRIMEIRO COMANDO DA CAPITAL AND THE COMANDO VERMELHO AND THE STATE MONOPOLY ON VIOLENCE: CHALLENGES IN THE BRAZILIAN CONTEXT

Abstract

This research starts from the following question: how do agreements between the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and the Comando Vermelho (CV) challenge the state monopoly on legitimate violence, and what are the consequences of this movement? This question highlights a gap in Brazilian criminological and sociopolitical literature, especially with regard to critical and up-to-date analysis of the coordinated actions between criminal factions and their effects on state authority. The main objective of the study is to analyze how these pacts between criminal organizations destabilize the foundations of the state's monopoly on force, identify the consequences of this cooperation and point out legal mechanisms that can address this problem. The methodology adopted is hypothetical-deductive in nature, based on a bibliographic review of Brazilian and foreign authors in political theory, sociology of the state, and criminology, complemented by institutional documents, intelligence reports, and journalistic articles, used as empirical illustrations of the phenomenon. The main results indicate that the agreements between the PCC and CV go beyond traditional criminal logic, reaching symbolic, financial, institutional, and communicational dimensions. It is evident that state responses are counterproductive, deepening a form of power (apparently parallel) that is, in fact, engendered by the very selectivity of the criminal justice system and its policies of hyper-incarceration and prohibitionism. The contribution of this research lies in updating the debate on the partial collapse of state authority in the face of organized crime and demonstrating the need for coordinated, intersectoral public policies based on complex diagnoses that go beyond repressive logic.