Racismo estrutural e seletividade punitiva na política nacional de drogas: uma abordagem criminológica

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze Brazilian drug policy from the perspective of critical criminology and labeling approach theory, to identify how the prohibitionist model against illegal drugs reverberates on black people. This research aims to show that in Brazil the selective enforcement which is “natural” to every criminal justice system is historically structured on racism. In the context of the war on drugs, that phenomenon is particularly noticeable in the enforcement of the federal law that penalizes drug-related crimes, whose vague provisions enable the criminal justice system to convict defendants charged for drug trafficking arbitrarily. The methodology is based on literature revision and on a case analysis (Lucas Morais da Trindade v. State) which demonstrates the relationship between structural racism and selective enforcement in the national drug policy and reveals that the mentioned policy is unable to protect the legal assets it claims to, which are social order and public health. The conclusion is that the model of drug prohibition in Brazil shall be reviewed urgently, and so shall the Drug Law, so to provide objective criteria to which the suitability to the type of drug-related crime must attend, thus restricting the discretion given to judges in the application of that law.