Police lethality and the attempt to legitimize arbitrariness

Abstract

The text critically analyzes how the Anticrime Bill legitimizes arbitrary police practices under the guise of “self-defense,” amplifying subjectivities such as fear, surprise, or violent emotion to exempt or mitigate penalties. The author argues that, although arbitrariness should be based on law, the new legalism functions as an ideological facade that naturalizes selective repression, especially against peripheral and black populations. Under the pretext of public security, the law is subordinated to authoritarian practices, undermining essential principles of the democratic rule of law such as proportionality, equality, and the protection of human rights.