“EXPERTISE IS NOT POLICE”: Employee Identity Building At The Department Of Criminal Justice Of The Rio Grande Do Sul General Institute Of Legal Examinations

Abstract

This paper intends to analyze and understand the identity-building process of employees at the Department of Criminal Justice of the Rio Grande do Sul General Institute of Legal Examinations. The theoretical basis on identity was focused on “relationist” authors who work with the individual-context interaction in the building of identities that are either expressed or repressed and dynamically negotiated. The methodology included qualitative research using in-depth semi-structured interviews performed with seven employees, and simple observation. Results indicate an identity with positive meaning that is built through science and the “search for truth to do justice”. Also, there are identities that reveal negative meanings, either real or imaginary, such as “illustrious unknown” and “no-identity”, as a consequence of a socially imputed stigma and the subject-object relationship with the police.