STRUCTURAL RACISM: A STUDY OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION IN THE BRAZILIAN PENAL SYSTEM

Abstract

The Federal Constitution of 1988 guarantees the presumption of innocence, full defense, due legal process and contradictory rights as the right of every human being. However, despite constitutional efforts, society is constantly faced with violence against black people and a restriction of these rights in terms of criminalization without sufficient evidence, as well as the lack of evidence of authorship and materiality in flagrant arrests, accusations and initiation of police-initiated investigations. The aim of this work is to reflect on structural racism with an emphasis on the violation of human rights in the Brazilian criminal system. To this end, the specific objectives include: (1) contextualizing structural racism in Brazil; (2) address human rights and fundamental guarantees that cover every human being; (3) examine case law and court decisions, which examine how human rights violations occur within the Brazilian criminal system. Starting from the question: “does structural racism lead to the violation of human rights in the Brazilian accusatory criminal system?”, this work aims to demonstrate this casuistry and contribute to people's reflection on a systemic and deeply rooted problem and thus be able to inspire concrete actions to combat racism and its consequences. To this end, a bibliographical review is carried out on structural racism in the penal system, as well as doctrines, the Federal Constitution, analyses, judgments of higher courts and statistical data. Throughout this article, it was clearly evident that racism is not just a problem of individual attitudes, but is deeply rooted in the country's institutional structures, as well as leading to the violation of human rights when faced with biased police approaches based on racial and also criminal trials and sentencing.