This study aims to analyze the production of information on the race/skin color of individuals submitted to autopsy at the Institute of Forensic Medicine (IFM) of Salvador/Bahia, in 2007. The evidence was obtained through interviews with forensic surgeons (coroners), autopsy assistants and the staff of the Corpse Release Department, as well as observations and documentary sources. The analysis revealed that the process of identifying race/skin color is neglectful, inaccurate and distorts the final information on death certificates. There was an indistinct classification of black and brown individuals as "pardos", which creates an informational "fog", while the death of whites coming to the IFM was "accidental." Murder, in turn, bears the mark of marginal violence, related to drugs, crime, which inscribes the dead in a horizon of culpability, almost justifying the violent death and the discrimination.
Racial identification; Mortality information system; Racism; Race/color
