This doctoral thesis aims to examine and criticize the construction by the Brazilian Supreme Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal, STF) of a concept to the right to silence – or rather, the privilege against self-incrimination – which is a criminal procedure guarantee, established in the Brazilian Constitution. All judgments of the Brazilian Supreme Court related to the privilege, since the promulgation of the Constitution (October 5, 1988) until December 31, 2007, were identified and analyzed, seeking to identify in what form the Brazilian Supreme Court defined that privilege (behind or beyond simply grammatical interpretation of the Constitution). Choosing the privilege against selfincrimination as the object of study results of the recognition that this right plays a structural role in the construction of a punitive system compatible with a democratic rule of law. Examination of all cases indicates that the privilege content was built through various resources, such as international courts decisions and international human rights treaties. But above all, the Brazilian Supreme Court has used principles arguments as a way to bring the constitutional text closer to the values that animate a democratic rule of law.