Race, Crime and Criminal Justice in Brazil

Assessing Racial Disparities in Homicide Sentencing: Findings From Brazil

“…Contemporary research has revealed that racial disparity does exist within institutions in Brazil, such as the economy (Arcand & D’hombres, 2004), education (Botelho et al, 2015; Marteleto & Dondero, 2016), and health outcomes (Nyarko et al, 2013; Pavao et al, 2012). Statistics also demonstrate the presence of racial disparities in criminal victimization (Murray et al, 2013; Truzzi et al, 2021), although existing studies have presented mixed results regarding how race influences the decision-making for homicide cases brought to the criminal justice system (Adorno, 1995; Cano et al, 2010; Costa Ribeiro, 1995; Fausto, 1984; Ribeiro, 2010; Ribeiro & Diniz, 2020). Adding to the above empirical findings, the current study finds no direct effects of race on jurors’ decisions about conviction but finds racial disparity in judicial decisions of sentence length.…”

“…In a study of murder cases in São Paulo between 1991, Ribeiro (2010 found Black individuals had higher odds of criminal conviction than White individuals. However, in a sample of convictions of robbery, homicide, and drug trafficking, imposed on offenders in the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in and 2001, Cano et al (2010 found no evidence of racial differences in the sentence length. Similarly, Ribeiro & Diniz (2020) did not find racial differences in homicide convictions when assessing the cases tried in Belo Horizonte (the capital of the state of Minas Gerais) between 2003 and 2013.…”

“…They believed that racism and racial discrimination were minimal or non-existent in Brazilian society in contrast to the other multiracial societies in the world.” Accordingly, at the core of the debate in Brazil is the question of whether blurred racial boundaries result in reduced racial discrimination (Marteleto & Dondero, 2016). Emerging research from across disciplines have provided evidence that relative to White, Black, and Brown individuals (i.e., the word used to identify mixed races, or the combination between Black and White) are worse off in terms of socioeconomic status (Cano et al, 2010), education (Botelho et al, 2015; Marteleto & Dondero, 2016), health (Pavao et al, 2012), infant birth outcomes (Nyarko et al, 2013), the labor market (Arcand & D’hombres, 2004), and even crime victimization (Truzzi et al, 2021).…”

Memorial

“…Em função disso, a estratégia metodológica desenvolvida para testar a possibilidade de viés racial nas sentenças partiu da coleta de uma amostra de mais de mil sentenças em cada um dos dois estados considerados, Rio de Janeiro e São Paulo, totalizando 2.307 sentenças (Cano, Ribeiro & Meireles, 2010). Para cada uma delas, uma equipe de pesquisa leu os documentos incluídos e codificou características do réu, da vítima, do crime e do processo penal, bem como os agravantes e atenuantes contemplados pelo juiz na sua decisão.…”