Expiration of action in minor crimes and the calculation of the period to declare.

Abstract

The work addresses contraventions as a category of criminal infractions, differentiated from crimes according to the corresponding penalty, identifying a lack of uniformity in judicial criteria regarding the appropriate moment to declare the prescription of the contravention action in a criminal process. It was a documentary, field investigation, with deductive, analytical-synthetic, and exegetical methods, carrying out analysis of judicial files, interviews, and surveys. The results revealed that the divergence of criteria between judges compromises the principle of legality and creates legal insecurity for citizens before the law.