The Center for Studies on Public Security and Citizenship, at University Candido Mendes, is dedicated to applied research, consultancy work, courses and events in the area of public security, justice and citizenship.

CESeC was created in April 2000, bringing together a group of specialists with experience in academic work, a background in social movements and the direct responsibility for designing and implementing public policies in the area of public security. Its main commitment is helping with the modernization of the Brazilian criminal justice system and with stimulating a participative and democratic culture within public security.

Since 2004, CESeC is a member of Altus, a global alliance working across continents and from a multicultural perspective to improve public safety and justice.

zz
OBJECTIVES

  • To provide input for the formulation of criminal justice and public security policies;
  • To monitor and evaluate public security programs and activities;
  • To work in partnership with organizations in civil society, including those from the business and trade-union sectors, formulating innovative proposals for the criminal justice system;
  • To develop instruments for expanding the participation of civil society in public security;
  • To offer training and specialization for criminal justice professionals;
  • To gather and disseminate information, knowledge and experiences on the criminal justice system in Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil and in other countries.


AREAS OF INTEREST

  • Police studies
  • Violence and crime
  • Judiciary and prisons
  • Civil society and public security policies
  • Public security and gender
  • Minorities and citizenship
  • Media and violence


STRUCTURE
Coordination
Graduate Studies and Research Department - University Candido Mendes
Director
Julita Lemgruber
Area Coordinators
Silvia Ramos
Leonarda Musumeci
Barbara Musumeci Soares
Statisticians
Gabriel Fonseca da Silva
Leonardo Leão de Paris
Researchers
Angélica de Faria Silva
Nivio Caixeta do Nascimento
Ana Carolina Rodrigues da Silva Dreyfus
Project Manager
Ana Paula Lima de Andrade

Advisory Board
President
Candido Mendes de Almeida
Members
Átila Roque
Elizabeth Leeds
Gilberto Velho
Ignacio Cano
João Trajano Sento-Sé
Leila Linhares Barsted
Maria Isabel Mendes de Almeida
Paul Heritage
Regina Novaes
Yolanda Catão


STAFF
Julita Lemgruber is a sociologist, former Director of the Prison System and former Police Ombudsman in the State of Rio de Janeiro. With a Master's degree from IUPERJ, she has published the books Cemetery of the Living , Who Guards the Guardians? , and many other papers on the police, prisons and alternative sentences. Formerly a member of the National Council for Criminal and Penitentiary Policy in the Brazilian Ministry of Justice, she is now a member of the Board of the International Center for Prison Studies and of the Altus Global Alliance, non-governmental organizations based, respectively, in London and in The Hague.

Silvia Ramos holds a Master's in psychology from the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and is a PhD candidate in the area of Public Health at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation. Founder and a former Director of ABIA (Brazilian Interdisciplinary Aids Association), she has been a consultant for various non-governmental organizations and agencies for international cooperation, and was Deputy Secretary for Public Security, in charge of setting up programs to protect minorities and the environment.

Leonarda Musumeci, an economist and anthropologist, teaches at the Economics Institute of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. She holds a Master's in Social Anthropology from the National Museum and is author of The Myth of the Free Land , Who Guards the Guardians? and of several works on violence, criminality and public security.

Barbara Musumeci Soares holds a Master's Degree in Social Anthropology, from PPGAS/UFRJ, a Ph.D. in Sociology from IUPERJ, and is the author of the book Invisible Women: intimate violence and new safety policies , and several other works on domestic and gender violence. She was Deputy Secretary for Public Security in the State of Rio de Janeiro.


ACTIVITIES

Seminars and fora
II Course on Studies and Research in Human Rights, Gender and Violence
in partnership with the Latin-American Center on Sexuality and Human Rights (Clam) and the Center for Studies on Sexuality and Gender (Neseg) at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
April and May 2007

Hidden Victims of Urban Violence
in partnership with the Psythiatric Service of the Santa Casa de Misericórdia General Hospital in Rio de Janeiro
March 2007

Workshop Media and violence
in partnership with the Federal Government Special Secretary on Human Rights
Supported by the European Union
October 2006

International Conference: Police Accountability and the Quality of Oversight: Global Trends in National Context
Organized by Altus in The Hague, Holland
October 2005

Media and Violence: How newspapers portray violence and security in Brazil
Supported by Ford Foundation
May 2005

Police and Gender: Women in the Brazilian Military Police Forces
in partnership with Senasp (National Secretary of Public Security)
December 2004

International Conference: The Penal Execution Law - what has changed in 20 years?
November 2004

Global Meeting on Women and Policing
in partership with the Vera Institute of Justice; supported by Ford Foundation.
September 2003

First International Conference on Civilian Oversight of the Police
September 2002

Violence and Racism
September 2002

Seminar on Sexuality, Violence and the Judiciary
in partnership with CLAM/UERJ.
September 2003

Media and Racism
August 2001

Special course on Violence, Public Safety and Citizenship
April and May 2001 - A partnership with Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in a series of eight presentations as part of the university's graduate program

Forum on Violence, Crime and Public Safety: a discussion of data base
June 2000 to March 2001 - A series of six seminars with Brazilian and American specialists

Seminar on Homosexuality: Politics, art and studies in contemporary Brazil
December 2000

Human Rights for Prison Staff
November 2000 - A three day seminar in partnership with the British Council and the International Center for Prison Studies

National Forum Against Violence
August 2000 - A discussion on the National Plan of Public Security

xxx
xxx
Finalized projects
xx
Police Station Visitors Week 2006
Objectives:
From October 29th to November 4th, 2006, 471 police stations located in 23 countries around the globe were visited by 1966 visitors. In Brazil, visits to 109 police stations were organized by CESeC in cooperation with the Civil Police of six Brazilian states capitals: Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, and Sao Paulo. Immediately after each visit, the visitors answered a questionnaire about what they observed and their answers were collected over the internet. This unique global event was organized to assess the quality of services delivered in the participating police stations, to identify good practices in dealing with the public, and to strengthen the accountability of the police to the local citizenry whom they serve.
Duration: 15 months (January 2006 to April 2007)
Coordinator: Nivio Caixeta do Nascimento (Altus Regional Representative in CESeC)
Partnerships:

  • Belo Horizonte, state of Minas Gerais: Crisp (Center for Crime and Public Safety Studies) - Federal University of Minas Gerais
  • Brasília, Federal District: Nevis (Center for Studies on Violence and Security), University of Brasília
  • Porto Alegre, state of Rio Grande do Sul: IAJ (Institute for Justice Access)
  • Recife, state of Pernambuco: NIC (Center for Studies on Coercive Institutions) - Federal University of Pernambuco
  • São Paulo, state of São Paulo: Sou da Paz Institute, NGO

Support: Altus Global Alliance
Products: Regional reports
More details: (English) (Portuguese)


The geography of violence in the Metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro - 2000/2005
Objective:
To analyse the space distribution, in the Metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro, of seven types of violent crimes registered by the Civil Police from 2000 to 2005: intentional homicides, manslaughter, “acts of resistance” (killings by the police); car robbery, street robbery, robbery inside buses and houses.
Duration: 9 months (January to September 2006)
Coordinator: Leonarda Musumeci
Statisticians: Gabriel Fonseca da Silva and Greice Conceição
Support: Ford Foundation
Product:
Boletim Segurança e Cidadania, 12, October 2005: The geography of violence in the Metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro - 2000 to 2005 (Portuguese).


Measuring impunity in the Criminal Justice System in Rio de Janeiro
Objective:
To evaluate the efficacy of the criminal justice system in the state of Rio de Janeiro, measuring the levels of impunity for the crimes of intentional homicide and robbery - over a five-year period (2000-2004).
Coordinator: Ignacio Cano
Duration: 12 months (May 2005 to April 2006)
Support: National Secretary of Public Security in the Ministry of Justice
Product: Final report (Portuguese)


Management of Public Security Policies and Local Power: institutional instruments and the construction of social indicators for the actions in the area of crime prevention and violence
Objectives:

  • To analyze national and international experiences in the implementation of programs in the area of public security by local governments - that is by municipalities. The main focus will be the institutional arrangement adopted, the professional profile of the managers, the administrative and technological innovations, the links between the social services the cities provide and the policies in the area of public security and the relationship between local powers, the community and other governmental areas (that is state and federal);
  • To evaluate the results of these programs and policies, as to their capacity of reducing crime and violence;
  • To formulate and organize indicators, criteria and mechanisms of evaluation of the results of specific programs and policies, as to their capacity of reducing crime and violence.

Coordinators: Julita Lemgruber, Luiz Eduardo Soares, Joao Trajano Sento Sé and Ignacio Cano
Duration: 33 months (January 2003 to September 2005)
Support: Faperj (State of Rio de Janeiro Foundation for the Support of Research)
Product:
Book Prevention of violence: the role of cities, coordinated by João Trajano Sento-Sé. Rio de Janeiro, Ed. Civilização Brasileira (Coleção Segurança e Cidadania, 3), 2006. (Portuguese)


Analysis of gender violence in Brasil
Consultancy work for the World Bank
Objective:
To produce an analysis of gender violence in Brasil, contemplating the magnitude of the problem, its social impacts, the adopted actions to face it, both governmental and non-governmental, and the future perspectives for this area.
Duration: 3 months (March to May 2005)
Coordinator: Barbara Musumeci Soares


Sexual crimes reported to the Civil Police in Rio de Janeiro
Objectives:
To analyze the information from the Civil Police in the State of Rio de Janeiro, for the period 2001-2003 on the main sexual crimes in the Brazilian Penal Code: rape and sexual assault.
Duration: 16 months (April 2004 to July 2005)
Coordinators: Barbara Musumeci Soares e Aparecida Moraes
Partnership: Núcleo de Estudos Urbanos, Industriais e de Gênero (Nurbigen/Ifcs/UFRJ)
Support: Hewlett Foundation
Product:
Boletim Segurança e Cidadania, 9, June 2005: Sex crimes in the State of Rio de Janeiro - 2001 a 2003, June 2005 (Portuguese)


Media and violence – pilot monitoring
Objectives:

  • To map nine different newspapers in the states of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Minas Gerais trying to understand how violence and crime is portrayed.
  • To bring together media professionals and researchers in the area of crime and violence to reflect upon their work and to stimulate a continuous and critical reflection on the media and the Brazilian responses to urban violence.

Duration: 12 months (May 2004 to April 2005)
Coordinators: Silvia Ramos and Anabela Paiva
Partnership: ANDI — News Agency on the Rights of the Child
Support: Hewlett Foundation and Ford Foundation
Products:


Human Development Report 2004 — Brazil — Chapter on Race, Violence and Justice
Objectives:
Understanding how racial bias works in the different stages of the criminal justice system taking into account empirical studies undergone by different specialists.
Coordinators: Julita Lemgruber and Sergio Adorno
Duration: 6 months (July to December 2004)
Support: UNDP (United Nations Development Programme)


Youth and the Police – 1st stage
Objective:
To monitor and evaluate a pilot project developed in partnership with the Afro Reggae Cultural Group designed to bridge the gap between the police and poor youth through cultural activities around theater, music, percussion, graffiti and circus. The project took place in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais.
Coordinator: Silvia Ramos
Partnerships:
• Minas Gerais Social Defense Secretary
• Military Police of Minas Gerais (PMMG)
• Program Fica Vivo! (Stay Alive!)
Duration: 8 months (May to December 2004)
Support: Ford Foundation
Products:

  • Final report - Summary (English)
  • Boletim Segurança e Cidadania, 13, October 2006: Youth and the Police (English) (Portuguese)

More details (Portuguese)


Secondary victims of violence
Objectives:
Violent deaths, homicides, suicides and fatal accidents, have unseen victims, friends and family of the deceased. The research will provide information on secondary victimization, on identifying which variables aid in coping with it and which hinder it. Ultimately, the creation of trauma centers for secondary victims may be suggested, as well as some guidelines for the optimization of their results.
Duration: 18 months (January 2003 to June 2004)
Coordinator: Gláucio Ary Dillon Soares
Support:
• Faperj (State of Rio de Janeiro Foundation for the Support of Research)
• Hewlett Foundation
Product:
Book Hidden victims of violence in Rio de Janeiro, by Glaucio Ary Dillon Soares, Dayse Miranda and Doriam Borges. Rio de Janeiro, Ed. Civilização Brasileira (Coleção Segurança e Cidadania, 4), 2006 (Portuguese).


Politics, rights, violence and homosexuality — Research on the 8th Gay Parade in Rio de Janeiro
Objectives:
To learn about the profile, opinions and experiences related to violence and discrimination among the participants of the Gay Pride Parade (Rio de Janeiro, June, 2003
Duration: 10 months (June 2003 to March 2004)
Coordinators: Silvia Ramos and Sérgio Carrara
Partnerships: CLAM (Latin American Center for the Study of Sexuality and Human Rights) /UERJ (Rio de Janeiro State University) GAI (Grupo Arco-Íris)
Support: Heinrich Böll Foundation
Products:

xx
xx
Military Policewomen
Objectives:

  • To learn about the impact of the participation of women in Brazilian Military Police forces, both from an organizational standpoint and from the perspective of the relationship between the police and the public;
  • To discuss the possible benefits and difficulties of a public policy in the area of public security which may enable greater participation of women the the Military Police and greater presence of women in activities that have to do with policing and the prevention of crime and violence.

Coordinator: Barbara Musumeci Soares
Duration: 18 months (January 2003 to June 2004)
Support: Ford Foundation
Products:

xx
xx
Racial profiling in Rio de Janeiro: a study of police action
Objectives:

  • To learn about perceptions and experiences in encounters between the police and the public in the city of Rio de Janeiro, specially in selective searches on the streets;
  • To verify the influence of social stereotypes, particularly race stereotypes, during those encounters, in such a way as to determine their nature and effects in the form the police relates to the public and vice versa.

Coordinators: Silvia Ramos e Leonarda Musumeci
Duration: 18 months (January 2003 to June 2004)
Support: Ford Foundation
Products:


National database for criminal statistics: analysis, evaluation and proposals
Objectives:

  • To develop exploratory studies using a database from the National Secretary of Public Security in the Ministry of Justice which brings together police records from 27 Brazilian States in the last three years;
  • To evaluate the consistency of these data, to identify gaps and problems and to point out ways of turning this system of data registering and data collection into a more effective strategy;
  • To design, together with a group of professionals at Senasp, new instruments for data gathering (questionnaire and manual to work with it) and to propose a strategy of making the various classification used by different police forces compatible.

Duration: 12 months (December 2002 to November 2003)
Consultants: Gláucio Ary Dillon Soares, Leonarda Musumeci and Yolanda Catão
Support: UNDCP (United Nations International Drug Control Programme)
Products: Final reports (Portuguese)


Monitoring and evaluation of the project "Mudança de Cena" (Changing the scene)
Objectives:

  • Consultancy work for the team of the People's Palace Project and its partners in the implementation and development of the various stages of a project which aims at promoting Human Rights, through theatre techniques, among the adolescents "in conflict with the law" in the State of Rio de Janeiro;
  • To provide information and to suggest strategies for monitoring and evaluating the experience.

Duration: 36 months (September 2002 to August 2003)
Coordinator: Silvia Ramos
Support: People's Palace Project / Community Fund
Products:


Mathematics and Citizenship
Objective:
Development of 79 basic exercises for students in all three stages of secondary education, showing how mathematical concepts may be used as a means to learn different aspects of the economic, social and cultural Brazilian reality.
Coordinator: Leonarda Musumeci
Duration: 24 months (January 2001 to December 2002)
Support: Roberto Marinho Foundation
Product:
79 illustrated sheets, distributed to 135.000 public high school students, as a pilot project in the state of Goiás
More details (Portuguese)


Prison management in Rio de Janeiro: problems and perspectives
Objectives:

  • To undergo exploratory research on the problems and difficulties faced by routine work in the prison setting;
  • To elaborate a set of evaluations and recommendations fit to serve as a basis for a future and much more general project on prison management.

Coordinator: Jacqueline Muniz
Duration: 18 months (November 2000 to May 2002)
Support: Ministry of Justice
Product: Final report (Portuguese)


Civilian oversight of the police: the Brazilian case
Objectives:

  • To evaluate the work of five police Ombudsman's offices in different brazilian cities;
  • To compare what is being done in Brazil, in the area of civilian oversight of the police, to the international experience;
  • To propose a new model for civilian oversight of the police in this country.

Coordinator: Julita Lemgruber
Duration: 18 months (October 2000 to April 2002)
Support: Ford Foundation
Products:


Women prison population in Rio de Janeiro
Objectives:

  • To establish a reliable data base on women prisoners in Rio;
  • To know the experiences of domestic and institutional violence suffered by these women in their childhood, adolescence and adult life.

Coordinator: Barbara Musumeci Soares
Duration: Six months (April to September 2001)
Support: Ford Foundation
Products:



Ongoing projects

Support program for family members of police massacres victims in Rio de Janeiro
Objective:
To offer psycho-social support for family members of police massacre victims through: a) training for Popular Public Defenders; b) building a support network to assist these persons psychologically; c) organizing regular meetings of the group, coordinated by a professional facilitator, to enhance mutual support within the group.
Coordinator: Barbara Musumeci Soares
Duration: 15 months (January 2007 to March 2008)
Partnership: Center for Peace Studies in the Center for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra (Portugal)
Support: Ford Foundation
More details (Portuguese)


Monitoring criminality in Santa Teresa neighborhood
Objective:
To regularly follow the evolution in the conditions of public safety in Santa Teresa, through the analysis of crimes registered by the local police station.
Coordinator: Silvia Ramos
Beginning: May 2001
Partnership:
• Movimento Basta!
• Viva Santa
• Amast – Associação de Moradores e Amigos de Santa Teresa
More details (Portuguese)


Training Manual for the Police Ombudsmen’s offices
Objective:
To put together a manual to be distributed to the Police Ombudsmen’s offices in the country, designed to help improve the way these institutions work.
Coordinators: Ignacio Cano, Julita Lemgruber, Marga Rothe and Fermino Fecchio
Duration: 18 months (April 2006 to September 2007)
Partnership: Special Secretary for Human Rights in the Federal Government
Support: European Union


Youth and the Police Index
Objective:
To identify patterns for the production of indicators capable of monitoring and evaluating the relationship between youngsters and the police in different cities and periods of time.
Coordinators: Silvia Ramos and Leonarda Musumeci
Duration: 18 months (June 2006 to November 2007)
Partnership: Laboratory for the analysis of violence, Rio de Janeiro State University
Support:
• Cordaid
• Finep – Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos
More details (Portuguese)


Media and Violence: reference text for journalists
Objective:
To design and publish a book to be distributed to newspapers, communications faculties in different universities, various media organizations in the country. This reference text is meant to help improve media coverage of crime and violence.
Coordinators: Silvia Ramos and Anabela Paiva
Duration: 14 months (May 2006 to June 2007)
Partnership:
• Special Secretary for Human Rights in the Federal Government
• Abraji – Associação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo
Support: European Union
More details (Portuguese)


Youth and the Police: permanent training of policemen
Objectives:
Continuing the first stage of the project, developed in 2004:
• To implement a new round of training of police officers in the areas of percussion, grafitte, street dance and theater, enabling them to directly work with youngsters from poor communities in the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State.
• To maintain and strengthen a group of police officers who formed a band in 2004.
Executor: Grupo Cultural AfroReggae
Monitoring coordinator: Silvia Ramos
Beginning: August 2005
Partnership:
• Secretary of Social Defense
• Minas Gerais Military Police
Support: Cemig – Companhia Energética de Minas Gerais
More details (Portuguese)


Surveys in the Gay parades
Objective:
To implement an annual survey in the gay parades to know the profile of the participants and their experience in discrimination related to sex orientation. This project is developed in partnership with Clam/Uerj and various homosexual movement NGOs. This stage of the project follows that which was started in 2003 and aims at building a historical series related to patters of violence and discrimination which affects gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transvestites and transsexuals
Coordinators: Silvia Ramos and Sergio Carrara
Beginning: 2004
Partnership:
• Latin-American Center on Sexuality and Human Rights (Clam)
• Grupo Arco-Íris (GAI)
• APOGLBT-SP
• Núcleo de Estudos de Gênero Pagu
• Departamento de Antropologia da Universidade de São Paulo
• Papai - Universidade Federal de Pernambuco
Support: Ford Foundation
More details (Portuguese)


Media and violence - permanent monitoring
Objectives:
• To identify tendencies in relation to the way printed media covers violence and crime, through content analysis of a number of newspapers;
• To establish a permanent mechanism of discussing with professionals in printed media issues related to the coverage of violence and crime in order to create a culture of debates on the theme;
• To identify essential aspects that must be permanently incorporated in the monitoring of printed media coverage of crime and violence in the country;
• To stimulate other research institutions and other researchers towards the theme in question and to articulate studies and initiatives around the same subject.
Coordinator: Silvia Ramos
Beginning: 2005
Partnership:
• Andi – Agência de Notícias dos Direitos da Infância
• Abraji – Associação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo
• Claves/Fiocruz – Centro Latino-Americano de Estudos da Violência, da Fundação Oswaldo Cruz
Support: Ford Foudation
More details (Portuguese)


Accountability in the prison system
Objective:
To implement a litigation program in the area of the prison system in the state of Rio de Janeiro through which the State may become accountable for its responsibility to uphold the legislation which protects the rights of prisoners.
Coordinator: Julita Lemgruber
Duration: 42 months (November 2002 to June 2007)
Support: Ford Foundation
More details (Portuguese)

xx
xx
PUBLICATIONS IN ENGLISH
xx