Summary Executions Committed by Agents of the State

A Study of Police Violence and Selectivity in Brazil

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the preferential profile of victims of summary executions committed by agents of the State, the reasons for this selectivity, by what means this violence is effective, which legislation provides such behavior and whether or not there is Public policies or legislation to prevent such violence. Through the reading of books, theses, articles and data analysis, it was possible to verify that the brazilian police acts selectively, generating a discrepancy between the number of black and white victims of police action. This selectivity is historically constructed by the brazilian State, creating a stereotype of black people as delinquents and an institutional racism. This institutional racism and the stereotype of the black people as delinquents guide the police action, which is supported by the institute of “resistance followed by death”, an institute that finds its legal basis in the article 292 of the Code of Criminal Process. Although the institute of “resistance followed by death” is not the cause of police violence, it is an important tool to exempt the State from the responsibility for the deaths committed by its agents, since it blames the victim and legalizes the police action. Therefore, its abolition, through one of the two bills awaiting a vote in the Chamber of Deputies (nº 4.471/2012 and nº 5.124/2016) is urgent, in order to mitigate the number of people killed by the police and make the State, and its agents, responsible for this deaths.