GEOGRAFIA DO CRIME E O MERCADO ILEGAL AUTOMOTIVO: uma análise socioespacial sobre os crimes contra veículos na cidade de Curitiba

Abstract

The illegal vehicle market is a profitable activity that seeks to meet demand through theft, theft and tampering with vehicles, which greatly hinder social development. It is then up to the criminal justice system to control these crimes, guaranteeing the lives, work and property of individuals. The recent and significant criminal drop of 64% in vehicle theft and theft in the city of Curitiba, Paraná, suggests the existence of social phenomena that constrained the practice of these crimes. What was the State's participation in this? Using geographic science, this work seeks answers by understanding and reflecting on the problem of automotive property insecurity and its relational dynamics between urban space and the criminal sector of vehicles. Using criminal theories, participant observation and mainly modern geography as a methodological instrument, a criminal analysis was carried out on the social and spatial aspects of the illegal automotive market in the capital of Paraná. In effect, it was possible to test and demystify common sense arguments, and conclude that the changes brought about by the "application economy"; the National Dismantling Law; and a democratic model of police management (New Police) are factors that explain the significant crime drop in the capital of Paraná. It was found that, given the high profitability of this illegal mechanism, its power of corruption makes use of the structural and organizational deficiencies of the State, creating an informal subsystem within the economic system. The illegal automotive market is, therefore, a capitalist structure aimed at illicitly enriching its members, under logic translated by the Economic Theory of Crime and the Theory of Rational Choices. As for the spatial analysis, carried out on the structure, process, form and function of this illicit market, criminogenic areas were found that showed a high incidence of car theft, with urban forms that weaken the security function of those public spaces. By comparing these public areas with others with low criminal incidence, it was possible to infer that areas controlled by citizens better fulfill the socio-spatial function of security.