The purpose of this article is to analyses the public security policy formulated and implemented by the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso in his first governoship (1995-1998). This analysis tries to inventory some political constraints, which limit the target of the line of directions formulated and implemented. Initially it presents a social and political scenery wider than the previous ones, which has contributed that public security and penal justice problems occupy a central position in the governmental policies. Then, we analyses the government of FHC's initiatives mainly in human rights, evaluating some impacts and results, identifying ambivalence and impasses as well.
crime; violence; scare; insecurity; criminality growth; public security politics; human rights; FHC government
