In Brazil, where crime is closely associated with social inequality and failure of the criminal justice system, the police are considered by most to be corrupt, inefficient, and violent, especially when occupying poor areas, and they lack the widespread legitimacy enjoyed by police forces in many nations in the northern hemisphere. This text covers hot-button issues like urban pacification squads, gangs, and drugs, as well as practical topics such as policy, dual civil and military models, and gender relations.
The latest volume in the renowned Advances in Police Theory and Practice Series, Police and Society in Brazil fills a gap in English literature about policing in a nation that currently ranks sixth in number of homicides. It is a must-read for criminal justice practitioners, as well as students of international policing.
Series Preface
Preface: The Prospects for Change in Brazilian Policing
Ricardo Balestreri
About the Editors
Contributors
Chapter 1: Police and Society in Brazil
Vicente Riccio and Wesley G. Skogan
Section I: The Organization of Brazilian Police
Chapter 2: The Dual Civil and Military Models for Policing in Brazil
Luiz Flavio Sapori
Chapter 3: Hierarchy, Career, and Professional Advancement in the Civil Police
Vicente Riccio, André Zogahib, Janaína Lawall, and Mario Aufiero
Chapter 4: Police Culture and Organizational Reform in Brazil
Eduardo Cerqueira Batitucci, Marcus Vinícius Gonçalves da Cruz, Amanda Matar de Figueiredo, and Letícia Godinho de Souza
Chapter 5: Managing Gender Relations in the Brazilian Police
Ludmila Mendonça Ribeiro
Section II: The Police and Their Problems
Chapter 6: Police Repression and the Drug Business in Brazil
Paulo Fraga and Joyce Kelli do Nascimento Silva
Chapter 7: Race, Class, and Law Enforcement in Brazil
Renato Sérgio de Lima and Jacqueline Sinhoretto
Chapter 8: Use of Force and Police Reform in Brazil
Wesley G. Skogan
Chapter 9: Gangs, Drugs, and Urban Pacification Squads in Rio
Vicente Riccio and Wesley G. Skogan
Chapter 10: Community Policing in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro
Vicente Riccio, Steven Dutt Ross, and Wesley G. Skogan
Section III: The Police and the Public Policy
Chapter 11: Professionalizing the Military Police Through Training
Vicente Riccio, Marcio Rys Meirelles de Miranda, and Angelica Müller
Chapter 12: Police Reform in Brazil: The Rise and Demise of PRONASCI
Marco Aurélio Ruediger
Biography
Vicente Riccio is a Professor in the graduate program of Law and Innovation at Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil. He also has worked as a consultant for many public institutions in Brazil, such as the Ministry of Justice, Public Security Secretary of Rio de Janeiro, and the Civil Police of Amazonas, among others. He has coordinated many educational programs for police officers and criminal justice professionals in different states of Brazil. His research interests cover diverse topics such as police reform, police cultures, legal systems in developing democracies, media and justice, and video evidence.
Wesley G. Skogan is Professor of Political Science and a Faculty Fellow of the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University. His research focuses on policing, community responses to crime, victimization, and fear of crime. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology, and was a Senior Fellow of the Center for Crime, Communities, and Culture of the Open Societies Institute. He organized the Committee on Police Policies and Practices for the National Research Council and served as its chair. He is the co-author (with Kathleen Frydl) of the committee report Fairness and Effectiveness in Policing: The Evidence. Earlier, he spent two years at the National Institute of Justice as a Visiting Fellow. In 2015, he received the Distinguished Achievement Award in Evidence-Based Crime Policy from the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy.
