By the virus, the bullet and the pen: extermination by police action during the pandemic and the (un)responsibility of legal institutions

Abstract

In 2020, during the pandemic, the São Paulo State Military Police surpassed the bloody mark of 1992 in the number of people killed in police actions. The year of 1992, when the Carandiru Massacre took place, drew the attention of defenders of human rights and the constitutional order to the fact that democracy was plunged into the paradox of the persistence of state violence. In the decades since democracy was built, various initiatives have been taken in the field of public security policies to reduce police lethality. But this battle was not won.