“If the punishment is not moderate, there is excess that law punishes”: the use of crime cases in the classroom

Abstract

The debate about the connection between academic production in the areaof History and its relationship with the knowledge produced in schools has sought toovercome the view that hierarchized these forms of knowledge. Primary and secondaryschools can be transformed into spaces of production and dissemination of knowledge.This article intends to bring this debate based on the analysis of a criminal process in aproposal of didactic sequence. The case in question involves a slave who, supported by afree man, can access justice to accuse his master of mistreatment. Using the meanders ofjustice, the accused reverses the logic of the case and gets rid of the accusation. Taking theprocess as a source, the didactic sequence aims to work on aspects related to citizenship,human rights, as well as the rejection of discrimination.