This paper scrutinizes the role of nonlegal and legal elements work out to the benefit of defendants on charged of racial discrimination at the judicial trials in Brazilian Courts. The study aims to analyze
97 penal decisions from the Brazilian Courts. Recently, the Brazilian democracy witnessed important changes, such as the criminalization of the racial discrimination and racism. These changes were a result of the
Black Movement struggle for Afro Brazilian civil rights over the last three decades, despite the society historical discourse to denying the existence of discrimination against black people due their race/color.
The beginning of race trials could contribute for the development of researches interested to verify if the victims of racism have had good chance of victory or if they have not had success. On regarding those decisons, the discriminatory acts against the victims were not considered racism (a non- bailable felony, and a crime against the whole humanity), but another kind of crime called injuria that does not gather the same
essence of the constitutional provision. This conclusion raised a question whether the analysis of sensitive social elements, such as race/color, and occupation levels could explain difference of victory between the
victims and the defendants. Furthermore, if the judges were guided by some kinds of interests, such as more work or less work when they choose by to convict or acquit. For development of this text, the research
aimed to the judicial decisions between 2005 and 2012, seeking to build explained patterns upon judges’ stands about racism, and which sources they worked on to support their decisions.