Only 2 in 5 quota vacancies for black judges are filled – 11/16/2023 – Power

Eight years after the institution of quotas in competitions for judges, only 2 out of every 5 vacancies reserved for black people were filled in the state Courts of Justice — and none in the Federal Regional Courts.

The situation leaves the Judiciary even further away from racial equality, in a country with a black majority in which only 14.5% of magistrates define themselves as black or mixed race.

To monitor the results of affirmative action, the Sheet analyzed 32 competitions concluded since June 2015, when the CNJ approved a rule that provided for the reservation of at least 20% of vacancies for self-declared black candidates.

Among the Courts of Justice, there were 27 competitions in 19 states, which offered 327 vacancies reserved for black quota holders, of which only 121 were filled by candidates targeted by affirmative action.

Vacant vacancies occurred in 15 of the competitions, in which there were fewer black candidates approved than there were vacancies reserved for them. In some cases, this also happened among other registrants, but to a lesser extent.

Assistant judge to the presidency of the CNJ (National Council of Justice), Karen Luise de Souza states that it is necessary to invest in the preparation of black candidates for the tests.

“We verified that there is approval for the first phase, but in subsequent phases the candidates end up being eliminated”, he says.

“The inequalities present in the lives of these candidates do not put them in the same conditions to compete: they need to work, they do not get as many hours of study nor do they have the financial investment conditions to take courses or purchase books.”

Most of the unfilled quota vacancies since the publication of the CNJ rule are concentrated in the São Paulo Court of Justice. There were 170 vacancies reserved for black people in three competitions in the largest state court in the country, of which only 25 (15%) were filled.

In highly competitive vacancies, there was also considerable idleness, but to a lesser extent — 42% of vacancies in this modality were filled.

The TJ-SP states that it follows all the rules of the CNJ and its own notices and emphasizes that black candidates with a grade for the broad competition are approved in this modality, and are therefore not counted in the quotas.

Also in the courts of nine other units of the Federation there were vacancies for black quota participants in competitions for judge. They were from Amapá, Amazonas, Distrito Federal, Goiás, Minas Gerais, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina.

In federal courts, the situation is more serious. No affirmative action vacancy was filled in the five judge competitions concluded since the quotas were introduced.

In his master’s thesis, Magai Dantas identified as the main causes the low overall number of successful candidates and the fact that the reservation of places is only applied to the first phase of the competition.

A Sheet She adds the hypothesis that the lack of representation in the Judiciary amplifies the problem: without references from black people in judgeships, many black people would not even register.

“If the person does not have a reference, has never seen anyone in their community or relationship who is a magistrate, this does not present itself as a possible scenario”, says she, who is the general coordinator of training for senior executives at Enap (Escola Nacional of Public Administration).

“The Defender’s Office and the AGU [Advocacia-Geral da União] they have many more black people on their staff”, he says.

She also defends investment in preparing candidates for quotas, as is already happening in the Itamaraty, in the Senate and now in the AGU. She also questions the effectiveness of competitions that repeatedly do not fill a considerable portion of their vacancies.

“A competition for 170 vacancies that only selects 25 is a waste of resources”, he says.

To try to increase the effectiveness of affirmative action, the CNJ approved a resolution in August that prohibits the establishment of any barrier clause for quota candidates, with no cut-off score in the objective test and a score of 6 being sufficient for them to be admitted to the subsequent phases.

According to the CNJ assistant judge, the resolution has already had an impact on a competition in Maranhão.

This Tuesday (14), the council instituted another device with the same purpose by approving the creation of rules for the implementation of a national exam for the entry of judges into the career, a proposal announced last month by minister Luís Roberto Barroso, president of the organ.

In the case of self-declared black or indigenous candidates, all those who obtain at least 50% correct answers in the objective test will be considered approved. For the others, at least 70% will be considered.

When analyzing the evolution of the proportion of black judges in the country, a CNJ report released last year concluded that, maintaining the current pace, representation will only be achieved in the courts between 2056 and 2059.

The equity parameter was calculated based on the population eligible to occupy the position of judge according to three criteria: being born or naturalized Brazilian, being over 18 years old and under 70 years old and having a higher education degree in law.

Black people would make up 22.2% of this population.

Using the parameter by state, the report concludes that only six Courts of Justice have already reached the local parameter of racial representation of magistrates: those of Amapá, Bahia, Ceará, Piauí, Pará and Tocantins.

In 15 there is a lack of representation, and in 6 courts the result cannot be calculated due to lack of information (Paraíba, Alagoas, Acre, Amazonas, Mato Grosso and Rio de Janeiro).

In the Federal Court, the only two courts that forwarded data from the judiciary with information on race/color, the TRF of the 4th and 3rd regions, have a percentage below the expected parameter.

The CNJ assistant judge states that it is necessary to advance equity, but that it should not be limited to black representation in the judiciary.

“Equity is looking at the parties, at the facts, at our relationships and recognizing that racism may be present,” he says. “Recognize that racism needs to be eliminated. Eliminating racism is promoting equity.”