High crime rates, mass incarceration and social inclusion in the Brazilian democracy

• In Event: Mutaciones de la política penal contemporánea. Miradas comparativas en América del Sur

Abstract

Understanding the predicament of crime control and punishment in contemporary Brazil requires an analysis of the deep changes in the social structure of the country since the 1980s. Throughout this time, the return and consolidation of democracy reshaped social relations and institutions. In 1988, a new Constitution granted the return of civil and political rights, while also heavily enlarged the scope of cultural, economic and social rights. In the following decade, monetary stability finally did away with past economic crises and enabled the reorganization of productive forces in the country. In recent years, the reduction of extreme poverty and the upward social mobility of vast sectors of the population offered the most distinctive change in patterns of social interaction within social life. The return of democracy and greater social inclusion, however, went in tandem with the emergence of a new crime complex. These inclusionary processes have been accompanied by increasing rates of crime and incarceration. The argument in this presentation seeks to demonstrate that the amelioration of social conditions and the transformation of the social structure contributed to the very predicament of the criminal justice system. The reorganization of the social structure changed traditional patterns of social interaction and control, representing an important step in the modernization of the country. The fast implementation of this modernization process in the Brazilian society, tough, repositioned extensive parts of the population within the social structure and provided new social roles and patterns of behavior, also giving room to rule-breaking behavior. This change in patterns of interaction and the respective weakening of traditional forms of social control allowed for the increase in criminality, as well as the respective development of the state apparatus of crime control. In this vein, more than a paradox within the Brazilian social life, the social inclusion during this period has resulted in an increase of crime and imprisonment.

Author

• David S Fonseca