Article in Folha: “Criminal justice flat-earthism is not public policy: Brazil does imprison too much (and then some)”

The following article, written by Patrícia Villela Marino, was originally published in the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo on May 18.

I am outraged by the assertion made by columnist Joel Pinheiro da Fonseca, published in this Folha, that “it is not true that Brazil imprisons too much. We imprison very little” (“Violence Atlas 2025 Brought Me a Dangerous Feeling: Hope,” May 12).

This type of discourse, which disregards factual data, could belong in a handbook of denialism—but this is criminal justice flat-earthism. Like all flat-earthism, it is dangerous because it misinforms and feeds the illusion that violence can be solved with more incarceration.

When the columnist states that “Brazil’s leniency with violent criminals is notorious” and that “if they didn’t remain imprisoned after their first offense, it’s because the system failed,” he reveals a worldview based on punitive common sense that ignores the actual functioning of our justice system, known to be more stringent with certain social groups.

Let’s look at the facts. Brazil has the world’s third-largest prison population, behind only the United States and China. There are more than 832,000 incarcerated people, according to the latest Brazilian Public Security Yearbook.

More than 40% of these people are held in pretrial detention—that is, without a final judgment. This is a legal aberration that contradicts due process principles and reveals the punitive and selective nature of our system.

Furthermore, two-thirds of the prison population are Black people. We’re not talking about an effective system; we’re talking about a racist machinery that fuels the mass incarceration of poor, marginalized youth without reducing violence.

What goes unsaid, but needs to be emphasized, is that mass incarceration today constitutes one of the greatest threats to national sovereignty. By imprisoning many without criteria, we expand the ranks of criminal factions and organizations, transforming prisons into crime universities. The state, unable to provide dignified detention conditions, creates space for these organizations to recruit, strengthen themselves, and expand their power beyond prison walls.

To say that “we imprison too little” in Brazil is not only statistical ignorance but a dangerous fallacy that encourages authoritarian and failed solutions. Instead of addressing the structural causes of violence—such as inequality, social exclusion, and the failure of drug policy—ready-made talking points are repeated that merely legitimize barbarism as method.

At the Humanitas360 Institute, we have shown for years, through concrete projects, that there are more just and effective paths: work, education, and social reintegration. Social cooperatives and the social business Tereza are living examples that transformation begins when we offer alternatives, not cells.

The solution involves reintegration policies and intelligence in combating organized crime, not the archaic and inefficient recourse to prisons.

True courage lies not in defending more locks, but in building a society where justice is not synonymous with revenge—and security doesn’t depend on walls and weapons.

We need data, sensitivity, and public responsibility, not slogans based on fear. Denying that Brazil imprisons too much is the new “the Earth is flat.” And we can’t waste any more time on this.

Patrícia Villela Marino
Lawyer, president of the Humanitas360 Institute