For 55, the presence of more black people in the Judiciary is a necessary step in a society that still needs to go to the couch when the issue is .
General Secretary of the CNJ (National Council of Justice) from September 2023 to September 2025 and current head of the 5th Federal Criminal Court in Rio de Janeiro, she tells Sheet that a more diverse Justice helps to improve democracy by making more people see the “spaces that decide their lives as spaces in which they can also be at the table”.
Adriana is one of the names cited by entities such as Fórum Justiça, JUSTA and Themis, which are calling for the appointment of a woman to the vacancy opened at the (Supreme Federal Court) with the retirement of .
She says that diversity in the courts helps white magistrates to practice their profession better when they coexist alongside judges with experiences like hers, who has already been “stopped by the police several times” and had the experience of not being recognized as an authority by the defendant.
The name of Mrs. is remembered by entities that ask for a woman to fill the STF position. I would like to be nominated for the cargo?
I would prefer not to talk about this subject.
What difference would a black woman on the STF make?
A black person in the Justice system seems essential to me. It is a natural path for a country that has sought to deepen its democracy. It is the challenge that all people have access to all spaces, not just black people, but indigenous people, people with disabilities.
Expanding access — and allowing people to see all the spaces that decide their lives as spaces in which they can also be at the table — is practically a consequence of our constitutional commands and, mainly, this desire for greater democracy and greater inclusion.
What signals does Brazil give to black and brown people when, in the 134-year history of the Supreme Court, it has never appointed a black woman as minister of the court?
This topic of nominations is a little delicate for me. I am a career judge, and the appointment is a prerogative of presidents. In a broader sense, I think it is worth questioning why black, indigenous and disabled people —who make up society and have their lives affected not only by the Supreme Court, but by many other decision-making spaces— do not have the same possibility of participating.
Society needs to reflect on what paths it wants to build so that everyone can be at the table. This is what our Constitution talks about, which begins with this obvious, but so necessary, declaration that everyone is equal before the law and that we want to build a country free from all forms of discrimination.
Doing this is not just about preventing people from being attacked because of who they are. It is also about enabling them to have access to all of life’s goods and to live life to the full, free from obstacles, setbacks and obstacles that are created artificially. Because sexism and racism are not given by nature, they are our creations as a society.
Does the racial issue face more resistance than the gender issue?
My life experience shows me that yes. It is much more palatable for people to see the inequality between men and women than to face the racial issue. It’s important to connect this with our history. We live in a country that proclaimed racial democracy and in which, during the dictatorship, racism could not be spoken of.
We lived in denial. It is a country that needs to go to the couch to deal with its denial. No one is racist, but at the same time people recognize that racism exists. Sexism, racism, all forms of discrimination, are not given of nature, they are not the law of gravity, they are constructions that benefit someone, a certain group.
Has the CNJ promoted actions for racial and gender equality? Has it been enough?
The day will be enough when we truly have a scenario of equality. But I think the measures are on the right track. The quota policy is now consolidated and guaranteed a completely different scenario from that of the judiciary I joined in 1999.
Until very recently, we were unique in our courts spread across the country. Today we are starting to see our colleagues arriving. The quota policy has established itself as something effective and efficient.
Despite the for black candidates in judicial examinations, the scenario is . How to improve inclusion?
The CNJ produced a bulletin in which it sought to understand their biggest difficulties with the scholarship holders. And that’s it: time and peace of mind to study. Nowadays, people take part in contests all over the country. Imagine going to take a test, taking the bus for 20 hours and sleeping at the bus station because you don’t have money for a hotel. Under what conditions will you take this test?
Everyone who has ever studied for a competitive exam or for anything in life knows that this is what it takes to study: to have peace. us [CNJ] sought to open this front to strengthen these candidates so that they can reach new stages with competitive capacity.
Speaking of the CNJ, what a statement Mrs. what about your time as secretary general?
As a federal judge, we end up, on a daily basis, very closed off in our universe. At the CNJ I dealt with State Justice, Labor and Military issues. We start to look not only at the diversity of Justice, but also that of the country. Brazil is very diverse, and this is reflected in our processes.
We were able to respond to the commands of Minister Barroso, who created a single portal for access to processes across the entire country and, in the area of human rights, made a council resolution on the issues and for the crimes, in a massacre that took place 35 years ago.
Mrs. He has been dealing with law since 1988, when he began his undergraduate studies at UFRJ. What assessment have you made in this field over the years in relation to the black population?
I see a lot of progress. In my five years of college, the issue of race was not even mentioned in my training. Today there are several universities with research centers to deal with the topic. This perspective also became present in the daily life of the Judiciary. I don’t want to sound like Poliana and say that everything is wonderful, but I see an evolution, because that was a “non-topic”.
Today there is a trial protocol with a racial perspective, established by a CNJ resolution. We still have a lot to do, especially to make black people feel well cared for, but it’s impossible for us to say that we haven’t made progress.
I’m a down-to-earth optimist. It’s a bit like that line: get out of my way with your racism and I’ll get rid of it with the Constitution. Because it is the Constitution that says that we have the ethical, moral and legal duty to treat all people equally, with respect and consideration.
How to make law an emancipatory instrument for the black population?
I think with us being at the table. To participate in decisions, in the construction of norms, in how they are interpreted. This has been done by all movements in the legal profession, the judiciary and the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
When we talk about the inclusion of women, black people, people with disabilities and indigenous people, it is because the lives of all these people are affected by these spaces. It is very important that the eyes of these people are present on them.
Does having more black people in the Judiciary help the Justice system see racism?
Certainly, because different spaces produce higher quality decisions. I have many colleagues who, throughout their lives, have been surprised by the fact that I have been stopped by the police several times.
People who had never been stopped by the police in their lives were stopped when they were with me. For them this is a surprise. Living with difference only enriches us. Monolithic spaces tend to be more impoverished.
They were in the state of Rio every time Mrs. Were you stopped by the police?
Always here, it’s where I live.
Mrs. She has already mentioned having had the experience of not being recognized as an authority by the defendant.
I think all black judges have had this experience. Because we don’t live up to people’s imagination of what a judge is.
But I think we are heading towards this type of episode becoming increasingly rare. Because, in addition to being an embarrassment —this is not the central point of my statement—, this strangeness demonstrates that people do not understand that space as capable of being occupied by anyone.
X-RAY | Adriana Alves Cruz, 55
Graduated in law from UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), she took office at the Federal Court in 1999. She commanded the General Secretariat of the CNJ from September 2023 to September 2025, under Minister Luís Roberto Barroso. She is head of the 5th Federal Criminal Court in Rio de Janeiro and professor of criminal law at PUC-Rio.
