A legitimação da violência de Estado na perspetiva dos polícias

Abstract

State Violence is currently a widespread growth phenomenon, mainly in most so-called democratic and capitalist societies (Barak, 2010; Chomsky, 2003; Kauzlarich, Matthews, & Miller, 2002; Rothe et al., 2009; & Rothe Mullins, 2009; Rothe & Ross, 2008). In order to exercise social control seen as expected (Waddington, 1999) or to applying an excessive or deadly force (Belur, 2009; HRW, 2009), police forces are assumed to be a normative opportunity to exercise legitimate ways of State violence (Barbosa & Machado, 2010). However, even if considered legitimate, police violence, like other forms of State violence, strongly affects human and civil rights and should therefore be explored and problematized (Belur, 2010a; Friedrichs, 2010; Rothe et. al., 2009; Ward & Green, 2000b). Assuming that to make violence less likely, it is necessary to understand the cognitive processes that legitimize and delegitimize (MacNair, 2003), the present study aimed to understand the processes of legitimation or moral disengagement in respect of state violence, by taking the perspective of police officers regarding representative situations of their professional activity. The findings showed that, in order to legitimize the use of violence, police rely on mechanisms of denial, as well as moral disengagement (e.g, sanitizing language, moral justifications, displacement of responsibility, attribution of blame). In turn, the delegitimization of violence tends to happen especially in potentially lethal scenarios associated with the resort to firearm. The findings were discussed based on of the importance of the denial in committing harmful acts (Cohen, 2001, 2003), the theory of moral disengagement (Bandura, 1900, 1999), the impact of the legal system and police hierarchical organization in the misrepresentation of the sense of moral agency and the importance of humanizing and empathize with others as a way to invalidate the use of police violence.

Date of Award	8 Jul 2013
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Raquel Matos (Supervisor)