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Abstract

René Girard understands mimesis as a basic human impulse. This impulse can lead to rivalry, leading to violence by all against one. The solution to this conflict is the situation in the religious sphere, according to Violence and the Sacred (1990). The remedy of this violence depends on sacrifice, that is, the use of certain properties of violence so that it is possible to put revenge out, because when triggered it generates a violent cycle. In the context of non-complex societies, there are criteria within a sacrificial rite that aims to eliminate revenge for the diversion of violence. In the case of secularized society, violence is regulated by one institution: the judicial system. The judicial system guides the criteria so that there are none. Here is the problem that this article intends to analyze: how can the judicial system prevent revenge without resorting to the religious ritual of sacrifice? From the bibliographic analysis of Girardian works, this article intends to understand how the religious is in the function of justice and the sacrificial act in our secularized society according to René Girard.