Highlights a fundamental contradiction in Brazil's democracy: the coexistence of political rights with pervasive human rights abuse. Political violence, condoned by the state, inhibits the extension of citizenship rights. Brazilian Human Rights NGOs have made significant gains in combating societal and state violence. However, NGOs and other civil society actors are limited in their ability to curb the use of extra‐legal force by the extensive corruption within the state's judicial and security systems and by the lack of accountability in its political society. The ability to extend and to consolidate democracy in Brazil is blocked by the persistence of authoritarian practice within society and state.