The naturalization of racial violence: slavery and hyperencarcerament in Brazil

Abstract

This paper discusses the Brazilian mass incarceration highlighting its racial dimensions. The high incarceration in the country is presented as an outcome of the penal punitivism of the judicial system and the society's acceptance of the violation of black people's rights. On discussing slavery and racial relations, we present data about the historical persistence of racial profiling in the judicial system. We reflect on how mass incarceration is part of the racial structure of the country, and it is a consequence of the illegality of judicial practices and of the strong social tolerance to the state's arbitrariness.