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...
Tag: mass incarceration
09/04/202523/04/2025
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Article in O Globo: “Anti-drug rhetoric is penal populism”
The following article, authored by Patrícia Villela Marino, was originally published in the newspaper O Globo on April 9. While a good portion of the Brazilian Parliament and public figures contort themselves in inflammatory rhetoric against the decriminalization of drugs, the numbers reveal an uncomfortable truth that penal populists prefer to ignore: organized crime in...
28/06/202428/06/2024
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Decriminalization of Cannabis possession: Brazil’s Supreme Court brings late and insufficient progress while Congress prepares setback
This Wednesday (26), Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court decided to decriminalize the possession of marijuana for personal use, establishing a limit of 40 grams or six female Cannabis sativa plants. The trial, which took nine years to conclude, represents a late advance in relation to the Drug Law, which since 2006 has promoted mass incarceration in...
20/06/202428/06/2024
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Working group led by president of H360 at CNPCP organizes debates on the war on drugs and mass incarceration in São Paulo
On June 17th and 18th, the Working Group on Drug Policy and Incarceration of the National Council for Criminal and Penitentiary Policy organized public debates in São Paulo to discuss the war on drugs and mass incarceration of young Black people. Led by the president of the Humanitas360 Institute, Patrícia Villela Marino, the group brought...
29/05/202429/05/2024
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Joined by H360, public hearing debates drug policy and incarceration in Brasília
On May 21, the National Council for Criminal and Penitentiary Policy held in Brasília, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Justice, the public hearing “Decriminalization of Drugs and its Impacts on the Prison and Judiciary System”. The president of the Humanitas360 Institute, Patrícia Villela Marino, who is part of the collegiate, opened the event...
15/04/202429/04/2024
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Article in Folha: Restricting sentence progression is populism that ignores the reality of prison
The following article was originally published in Portuguese in the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo on April 12, 2024. Brazil has a sad tradition of public figures who, unable to present adequate solutions to the problems they should solve, resort to simple formulas and easy ways out. The strategy is used by administrators who prefer...
31/01/202431/01/2024
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In a Marie Claire interview, president of H360 discusses war on drugs and mass incarceration
The following interview was originally published in Portuguese in Marie Claire magazine in January 2024. When lawyer Patrícia Villela Marino recorded a video in support of President Lula in October 2022, she didn’t expect the reaction that was to come. Married for more than 20 years to Ricardo Villela Marino, chairman of Itaú’s Board of...