The Forensic Reports on Bodily Injury from the Carandiru Massacre

Elements for the Study of the Medical-Legal Coproduction in State Violence

Abstract

https://doi.org/10.1590/2179-8966/2025/93621

This study analyzes 104 forensic medical reports related to bodily injuries, integrated into the criminal process that investigates the conduct of military police officers involved in the Carandiru Massacre, which occurred on October 2, 1992, in Pavilion 9 of the São Paulo House of Detention. Situated within the context of studies on law and state violence, the text explores what these reports reveal and conceal about the Massacre and its investigation, focusing on the medico-legal coproduction in cases involving state agents, with the forensic reports serving as the central object of observation.

The research aims two main contributions. The first concerns research practice, highlighting methodological clarification, ethical challenges, and the use of open science in producing memory. The second level focuses on understanding the events, examining the role of multiple state actors in relation to survivors of the Carandiru Massacre. The study also demonstrates how norms, administrative acts, and institutions can be analyzed as producers of violence, accountability, recognition, and reparation for these acts of violence.