Education and public security: continuing police training, police stops, and the “standard color profile”

Abstract

This article examines the production of legal inequality within the Brazilian justice system through an interdisciplinary dialogue between Law and the Social Sciences. It begins with a historical understanding of citizenship in Brazil in order to demonstrate how the formal recognition of rights coexists with selective institutional practices. The study adopts a theoretical-analytical approach grounded in the contributions of legal sociology and the anthropology of law, with particular emphasis on studies of legal equality, institutional moralities, and police ethics. The article argues that equality before the law, although constitutionally guaranteed, is operationalized unevenly in the day-to-day functioning of institutions, thereby incorporating pre-existing social inequalities. It demonstrates that judicial decisions and police practices are shaped by moral classifications, implicit values, and extralegal criteria that influence both the recognition of rights and the management of conflicts. The analysis shows that legal inequality does not result from isolated institutional failures but rather constitutes a structural element of the justice system itself. This inequality manifests from the earliest stages of interaction between citizens and the state and extends throughout judicial proceedings. The article concludes that overcoming this condition requires not only normative and legal reforms but also a critical examination of the institutional practices and moral frameworks that sustain legal selectivity in the Brazilian context.