Da contravenção penal ao crime de racismo: uma história de impunidade.

This article aims to analyze and interpret hermeneutic aspects related to the crime of racism in Brazil. The first law to combat racism was enacted in 1951, known as Afonso Arinos Law followed by provisions and redrafting, in 1985, by Law 7.437/85. But it was only with the promulgation of the Federal Constitution of 1988 that racism no longer appears as a mere criminal contravention and is now considered a crime. In 1989, the definition of racism as a crime is presented by Law No. 7.716/89, known as Lei Caó. With the intention of expanding the list of crimes resulting from discrimination, Law 9,459/97 ended up adding a new paragraph to Article 140, paragraph 3 of the Brazilian Penal Code introducing the figure of the injury. Since then, the great majority of crimes of racism have been reported in police investigations as a serious offense, due to the argumentation of the difficulty in proving the criminal act. To render problematic the argument that there is a lack of proofs and of possession of Bourdieu's (1989) theoretical reference, and we present a legal-sociological approach to discuss the historical de-characterization of the crime of racism that has been endured by legal and judicial institutions recognition of racial prejudice as a veritable crime against black ethnicity.Este artigo tem como objetivo central analisar aspectos hermenêuticos relacionados ao crime de racismo no Brasil. Com a promulgação da Constituição Federal de 1988 o racismo deixa de figurar como mera contravenção penal e passa a ser considerado crime propriamente dito. Com a intenção de ampliar o rol de crimes resultantes de discriminação, a Lei 9.459/97 acabou por acrescentar novo parágrafo ao Artigo 140, § 3º do Código Penal brasileiro introduzindo a figura da injúria. A partir de então, a grande maioria de crimes de racismo vem sendo relatados nos inquéritos policiais como injúria grave, em virtude da argumentação da dificuldade em provar o ato criminoso. Problematizando o argumento da falta de provas e de posse do referencial teórico de Bourdieu (1989), realizamos uma revisão bibliográfica e apresentamos uma abordagem jurídico-sociológica no sentido de discutir a histórica descaracterização do crime de racismo no Brasil