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The question of “reasonable suspicion” in Brazil: methodological challenges and research opportunities

Abstract

The objective of the article is to present a discussion about the methodological difficulties faced in carrying out research on the identification of criminal suspects in Brazil - a practice known as “founded suspicion”, provided for in art. 244 of the Criminal Procedure Code - especially studies aimed at understanding such identification as racially discriminatory. Comparing how this debate emerged in the United States, we question the reasons why this topic faced impasses in forming a research agenda in the country, in addition to pointing out the strategies used by Brazilian researchers to address such issues. Aiming to overcome these shortcomings, in the article we propose new possibilities for using methodologies to carry out these studies, deepening the analysis of how other actors in the criminal justice system - in addition to the police - also reproduce a discriminatory standard narrative about these cases.

Keywords:
Suspicion founded; Police approach; Racism; Criminal justice system

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