WHITENESS, THE RACIAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM AND (DE)COLONIAL PROCESSES: a critical discursive analysis

Abstract

In 2020, a white magistrate linked to the Paraná State Justice Court (TJPR) published a clarification note after the public repercussions of a court ruling in which she described a black defendant as a member of a criminal group because of his race. Thus, this study discusses the phenomenon of “whiteness” and the consequent maintenance of narcissistic “whiteness” pacts inside the Brazilian judiciary system identified by means of a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of a note disseminated through the Parana Magistrates Association (Amapar) website. Using a qualitative approach with a descriptive purpose, the discursive order analysis captured in the note revealed a process of the maintenance of narcissistic “whiteness” pacts reinforcing the myth of racial democracy in Brazil, while upholding the modern colonial capitalist logic to establish a locus of power and privilege. As well as, in this case, through the institutional character of Judicial power, there is a reinforcement of the racial system of criminal justice that (re)acts through violence and domination of non-white bodies and through intersectionality to enhance impoverishment policies to promote capitalism and civilizational advancement.