coercive driving is a enforcement method applied by law enforcement authorities to ensure that those summoned to testify comply with this action.
Provided for in the Brazilian Code of Criminal Procedure (CPP), coercive conduct is considered, according to some jurists, a kind of “pretrial detention” of short duration.
This expression is used because the individual under coercive conduct is required to accompany the police to the department of police to provide clarification on a given matter, with the aim of producing evidence on the investigation.
As provided for in article 218 of the Brazilian Criminal Procedure Code, the coercive driving is only legitimate when it is preceded by a prior summons. When this method is applied without a subpoena, it constitutes a violation of the witness's or defendant's right to freedom.
Learn more about the meaning of Criminal Code.
However, if the individual receives the subpoena but does not appear or excuse his absence, coercive conduct is free to be used. Police authorities can handcuff and force the subpoena in a police vehicle, if necessary.
There is a great debate about the validation of coercive driving. According to some jurists, this is considered a method unconstitutional, as it disagrees with the wording of article 5, item LXI, of the Federal Constitution of 1988.
"LXI - no one will be arrested unless in flagrante delicto or by a written and reasoned order of authority competent judiciary, except in cases of military transgression or properly military crime, defined in law;"
However, coercive conduct is considered legal from the point of view of being a mechanism for the production of useful evidence in the exercise of a criminal investigation.
See also the meaning of Constitution and coercive.