Positive contradictions
There are opportunities to deconstruct the logic of “the only good criminal is a dead criminal”, says Julita Lemgruber
In early April, a survey by Cesec (Center for Studies on Public Security and Citizenship at Cândido Mendes University) produced seemingly contradictory data on the perception of the population of Rio de Janeiro on matters of public security.
According to the study, called “An eye for an eye? What people from Rio de Janeiro think about the saying ‘the only good criminal is a dead criminal’”, 60% of the city’s residents disagree with this statement. Meanwhile, the same survey also found that 73% of the respondents believe that “the defense of human rights is incompatible with the control of crime”.
In the interview that follows, Julita Lemgruber, a sociologist and public security expert and one of the coordinators of the survey, explains this contradiction and analyzes the message that these data provide for human rights activists.
Conectas: Did the result of the survey come as a surprise?
Julita Lemgruber: The result of the survey was a positive surprise in the sense that the percentages for the city of Rio de Janeiro are lower than the percentages for the country as a whole and the same as the percentages for the Southeast region. On the other hand, we are obviously concerned with the fact that 37% of people in the city of Rio de Janeiro agree with the cliché “the only good criminal is a dead criminal”. But I think that what surprised us positively about this survey was the fact that there are so many contradictions in the results. The percentages reveal contradictory opinions about several of these issues. In other words, there are opportunities for people who work in the field of human rights to deconstruct the logic of “the only good criminal is a dead criminal”.
What does this contradiction mean to you?
J.L.: Since the 1980s, I have been struck by the fact that we – human rights activists – have been unable to deconstruct this mistaken understanding about what human rights are. If you take a look at the newspapers from the time, you’ll see how the topic was mishandled and misinterpreted by the media and by the police. The good news we can take from this survey is the fact that there are opportunities, that this perception is not monolithic. This condemnation of human rights and the association that people who defend human rights defend criminals is not an understanding that comes across in all the responses to the questions we asked in the survey. People don’t trust the police, so how can they give the police a license to kill? In the survey, for example, we asked whether residents of Rio de Janeiro “see themselves as likely victims or very likely victims of police violence”. Here, you can clearly see among the black and mixed-race population and among young people that this distrust is far higher. It all points to the paths we need to consider.
The Rio de Janeiro survey contrasts with the national survey conducted a year earlier, in which half the Brazilian population agreed with the saying “the only good criminal is a dead criminal”. What explains this difference?
J.L.: I think this difference is related to the distrust in the police, which runs very deep in Rio de Janeiro. A population that does not trust the police is more fearful of extrajudicial killings than the idea of “the only good criminal is a dead criminal”. The survey was conducted in March and April of last year, a time when the UPPs [Police Pacification Units] were very obviously demonstrating that the public security policy in Rio de Janeiro was in crisis. I think this contributed. A population that is very distrustful of the public security policy and the police will not easily adhere to the idea that “the only good criminal is a dead criminal”.
There is the idea that religion contributes to a conservative mentality. However, the research does not confirm this perception. Does the opportunity exist to discuss human rights with religious people?
J.L.: There’s a great deal to be done here. When we think of evangelicals, what comes to mind is the evangelical caucus in Congress. But they are not one and the same! Evangelicals rarely repeat these conservative clichés that the evangelical caucus keeps on repeating in the media. These people who frequently attend church, and in particular favela residents, are a group with which we need to work more closely. This is where we will find ways to change adherence to clichés like “the only good criminal is a dead criminal”.
Was this survey presented to the authorities?
J.L.: The survey was widely publicized in the media. We know that several journalists tried to address the results with authorities in the field of public security but nobody wanted to speak out. Rio de Janeiro is going through a stage in which any possibility of dialogue is extremely difficult. The situation currently facing public security in Brazil does not permit us to really discuss these results with the public security authorities.
What message does the survey send to governments and the police?
J.L.: It sends the message of a lack of trust in the police and in the justice system. Confidence in the justice system is even lower than confidence in the Civil and Military Police. The institutions of the criminal justice system are very poorly rated and this should be a concern for the executors of the law. But this survey also has a message for us, human rights activists: there is a lot of work to be done. We need to be aware so that we don’t embolden, with our words and our insights, these ideas that have crystallized over the years on what human rights are.
