Crime and Punishment: the Impact of Skin Color and Socioeconomic Status of Defendants and Victims in Jury Trials in Brazil

• Rogério Ferreira da Silva ^[2] ; Marcus Eugênio Oliveira Lima ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidade Federal de Sergipe

     Universidade Federal de Sergipe

     Brasil

     
  2. [2] Promotoria de Justiça do Estado de Sergipe (Brazil)
• Localización: The Spanish Journal of Psychology, ISSN 1138-7416, Vol. 19, 2016, 11 págs.
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.1017/sjp.2016.77
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen

  • Social judgments are often influenced by racism. Voluntary crimes against life, and in particular the crime of homicide, may be the most critical situations of the impact of racism in social judgments. We analyzed 114 homicide trials conducted by the 1st Jury Court, in a Brazilian judicial capital, concluded between 2003 and 2007, for the purpose of investigating the effects of skin color and the socioeconomic status of the defendant and the victim of homicides in the jury trial court’s decision. The results indicate that the social and economic profile of defendants and victims of homicide is identical. They are almost all poor (more than 70%), with low education (more than 73%) and frequently non-Whites (more than 88%). We found that judges assign longer sentences to black (β = .34, p = .01) and poor defendants (β = .23, p < .05). We even verified that the poorer the defendant, the higher was the corresponding conviction rate (Wald’s Test = 5.90, p < .05). The results are discussed based on theories of social psychology and criminological sociology, which consider the relationship between skin color and socioeconomic status in social judgments and in discrimination.

• Referencias bibliográficas
  • Adorno S. (1996). Violência e racismo: Discriminação no acesso à justiça penal. [Violence and racism: Discrimination in the access to criminal...
  • Bornstein B. H., & Greene E. (2011). Jury decision making: Implications for and from psychology. Current Directions in Psychological Science,...
  • Briceño-León R. (2002). La nueva violencia urbana de América Latina. [The new urban violence in Latin America]. Sociologias, 8, 34–51.
  • Briceño-León R., Camardiel A., & Avila O. (1998). ¿Quiénes son las víctimas de la violencia en Caracas? Un análisis social del riesgo...
  • Correll J., Park B., Judd C. M., & Wittenbrink B. (2002). The police officer’s dilemma: Using ethnicity to disambiguate potentially hostile...
  • Da Silva R. F. (2009). Julgamentos sociais dos crimes de homicídio e suas variáveis impactantes: Uma análise dos julgamentos no tribunal do...
  • Degler C. N. (1971). Nem preto nem branco: Escravidão e relações raciais no Brasil e no EUA. [Neither black nor white: Slavery and race relations...
  • Eberhardt J. L., Davies P. G., Purdie-Vaughns V. J., & Johnson S. L. (2006). Looking deathworthy: Perceived stereotypically of black defendants...
  • Elias N., & Scotson J. L. (2000). Os estabelecidos e os outsiders: Sociologia das relações de poder a partir de uma pequena comunidade....
  • Fausto B. (2001). Crime e cotidiano: A criminalidade em São Paulo. [Crime and everyday life: Criminality in São Paulo] (2a Ed.). São Paulo,...
  • Freyre G. (1933/1983). Casa-grande e senzala: Formação da família brasileira sob o regime de economia patriarcal. [Masters and slaves: Formation...
  • Green A. R., Carney D. R., Pallin D. J., Ngo L. H., Raymond K. L., Iezzoni L. I., & Banaji M. R. (2007). Implicit bias among physicians...
  • Guimarães A. S. A. (1999). Racismo e anti-racismo no Brasil. [Racism and anti-racism in Brazil]. São Paulo, Brazil: Editora 34.
  • Halim H., & Chew I. K. H. (2008). Performance attributions: A cross cultural study comparing Singapore, Japan and US Companies. Interdisciplinary...
  • Hastie R. (1993). Inside the juror: The psychology of juror decision making. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
  • Hulsman L., & Celis B. (1997). Penas perdidas: O sistema penal em questão. [Wrongful sentences: The penal system in question]. (2a Ed.)....
  • IBGE Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (2000). Censo Demográfico. [Demographic Census]. Retrieved from IBGE Website http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/
  • IBGE Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (2007). Estudos & pesquisas: Informação demográfica e socioeconômica. Relatório síntese...
  • Jahoda G. (1999). Images of savages: Ancient roots of modern prejudice in western culture. London, UK: Routledge.
  • Kahneman D., & Tversky A. (1982). The psychology of preferences. Scientific American, 246, 160–173.
  • Kruglanski A. W. (1989). The psychology of being “right”: The problem of accuracy in social. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental...
  • Lieberman J. D. (2011). The utility of scientific jury selection: Still murky after 30 years. Current Directions in Psychological Science,...
  • Lima M. E. O. (2002). Normas sociais e racismo: Efeitos do individualismo meritocrático e do igualitarismo na infra-humanização dos Negros....
  • Lima M. E. O. (2007). Racial relations and racism in Brazil. Culture & Psychology, 13, 461–473.
  • Lima M. E. O., & Vala J. (2004a). Serão os estereótipos e o preconceito inevitáveis? O monstro da automaticidade. [Are stereotypes and...
  • Lima M. E. O., & Vala J. (2004b). Sucesso social, branqueamento e racismo. [Social success, whitening, and racism]. Psicologia: Teoria...
  • Lima M. E. O., Machado C., Ávila J., Lima C., & Vala J. (2006). Normas sociais e preconceito: O impacto da igualdade e da competição no...
  • Menard S. (2000). Coefficients of determination for multiple logistic regression analysis. The American Statistician, 54(1) 17–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00031305.2000....
  • Ministry of Justice (2008). Departamento Penitenciário Nacional DEPEN Sistema Nacional de Informação Penitenciaria InfoPen Dados Consolidados...
  • Misse M. (2008) Sobre a construção social do crime no Brasil: Esboços de uma interpretação. [On the social construction of crime in Brazil:...
  • Payne B. K. (2001). Prejudice and perception: The role of automatic and controlled processes in misperceiving a weapon. Journal of Personality...
  • Porter S., & Brinke L. T. (2009). Dangerous decisions: A theoretical framework for understanding how judges assess credibility in the...
  • Ribeiro C. A. C. (1993). “Cor e Criminalidade”: Estudo e análise da justiça no Rio de Janeiro (1900–1930). [“Color and crime”: Study and analysis...
  • Robert P. (2007). Sociologia do crime [Sociology of crime]. Petrópolis, Brazil: Vozes.
  • Ross L. (1977). The intuitive psychologist and his shortcomings: Distortions in the attribution process. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology,...
  • Tajfel H. (1981). Human groups and social categories: Studies in social psychology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  • Vala J., Pereira C. R., Lima M. E. O., & Leyens J.-P. (2012). Intergroup time bias and racialised social relations. Personality and Social...
  • Wacquant L. (2001). As prisões da miséria [The prisons of misery]. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Jorge Zahar Editor.
  • Winter R. J., & Robicheaux T. (2011). Questions about the jury: What trial consultants should know about jury decision making. In R. L....
  • Young J. (2002). A sociedade excludente: Exclusão social, criminalidade e diferença na modernidade recente. [The exclusive society: Social...