Racial Dynamics in the Responsibility of Police

Possible Dialogues Between Law and History

Abstract

This article seeks to organize an interdisciplinary theoretical framework to describe the racial dynamics that emerge in the course of processes of accountability of police officers involved in approaches that result in death. To this end, the inputs of empirical research in the field of Law are recovered, to build theoretical bridges in time and space. The theoretical framework of reference are studies on race, race relations and institutional racism, first developed in the United States and further developed in Brazil by Brazilian scholars. We call this theoretical-methodological exercise “retroracialization”, through which we go through interdisciplinary and geopolitical shifts that allow us to develop useful concepts for understanding the role that race has played in the legal accountability of the police and police officers in Brazil. It is hoped that the article will help to refine the dialogues between criminal procedural law, a sphere of law that is still resistant to studies on the effects of race and racism on the Brazilian justice system, and disciplines and areas outside of law.