The protection of the honor of political agents: Parallels between civil law and criminal law

This paper proposes a study of the mechanisms that Civil Law employs to protect the right of personality to the objective honor of political agents, as well as aims to investigate the dynamics of possible correlations and contradictions between the application of the protection of personality rights carried out by the civil area and the punishment of crimes against the honor of public officials existing in Criminal Law. This is a quantitative and inductive research that aims to identify existing patterns in the legal field when it comes to the regulation of injuries and crimes committed against the honor of public agents. The problematization of the research consists of the analysis of the reality of political agents who claim to suffer moral damages in the civil sphere, in which the condition of public person is interpreted as a propensity to receive criticism and as part of the work of these agents. This situation contrasts with the point of view adopted by Criminal Law, in which the fact that the crime against honor is committed against a public agent constitutes an aggravating factor provided for in items I and II of art. 141 of the Brazilian Penal Code.