In general terms, vagrancy cases followed extremely similar patterns. From the witness’ statements to the conditions under which the arrests occurred, the only substantial difference between cases were the prosecuted individuals themselves. This database focuses on those individuals. It comprises 386 profiles, taken from 386 vagrancy cases handled by the city of São Paulo’s Justice System from 1880 to 1928. Documents produced during the nineteenth century are part of São Paulo’s Public Archive’s ‘Autos Crimes’ fund. All other documents were, at the moment of research, held by São Paulo’s Judiciary Archive.
