THE DYNAMICS OF RACIAL ATTRIBUTION IN THE JUSTICE SYSTEM: A STUDY OF THEFT AND STEALING JUDGMENTS IN THE CITY OF SÃO PAULO

• Grant number: 23/07350-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: November 01, 2024
• End date: February 28, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Law
• Principal Investigator: Maira Rocha Machado
• Grantee: Natalia Santana dos Santos
• Host Institution: Escola de Direito de São Paulo. Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The present research project aims to investigate racial dynamics in criminal processes and contribute to understanding the implications of racial representations in the Judiciary and decision-making practices. The effects of race on sentencing have already been the subject of quantitative and qualitative research (SCHUBERT, 2021; SANTOS, 2017; SILVA, 2018; OLIVEIRA, 202; SEMER, 2019; SILVA, 2019; NEVES, 2021; CANO, MEIRELES, and RIBEIRO, 2010; VARGAS, 2004), which highlight the influence of factors related to the perception of the accused, such as color, gender, age, etc., in the flow of the criminal process. Therefore, we are interested in investigating how the protagonists of theft and robbery crimes - victim(s) and accused(s) - are perceived and presented in the processes and how this characterization appears in sentencing, as well as developing a specific methodological design that allows us to verify if, when, and how these perceptions are mobilized in the procedure and sentences by the various participants in the condemning scene. To achieve this, the research strategy adopted will combine documentary research, in recurrent dialogue with existing theoretical discussions in the fields of Social Sciences, Criminology, Sociology, and Law.