This article discusses the Brazilian justice system’s response to corruption, focusing on
tax offenses and judicial decisions in particular, with a view to presenting the
theoretical aspects required to understand them, as well as how such crimes affect the
economic development of emerging countries such as Brazil. Although there are many
studies on corruption in a general sense, little is known, especially in Latin America,
about how justice systems have tackled fiscal corruption, since the misappropriation of
public funds affects the government’s performance in areas such as health, education,
and public security. This topic will also shed light on the perception that white-collar
crime is not effectively punished. To this end, a study was carried out on a sample of
146 court decisions issued by the Brazilian Federal Court between 2005 and 2022.