Abstract
The following article considers the relations between literature and criminology based on the criminological tradition of Roberto Lyra and other interpreters of Brazilian structural violence in Machado de Assis. Based on an analysis of the novel Via Ápia by Geovani Martins, we reveal the context surrounding the implementation of Police Pacifying Units (UPPs) in the Rocinha neighborhood. The daily lives of Martins’ five young protagonists demonstrate the various consequences of such a project on the lives of the residents of the favelas in which the units were installed: the effects on the trade of illicit substances, the brutality and lethality of the police, and the militarized occupation of such places. Literature as a witness to history reveals itself as an important key to criminological interpretation.
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