The drop in the murder rate in Brazil released today by the Brazilian Public Security Forum (FBSP) was the largest in the historical series since 2017. The number of intentional violent deaths (MVI) fell from 47,5 thousand to 41,1 thousand. The decrease, however, did not happen homogeneously across the country. For Renato Sérgio de Lima, CEO of the Forum, the drop is “good news, but the number is still very high”.
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The isolated drop does not reflect the details
In general, misinterpretation or distortion of data can create a false sense of security. According to data from the yearbook, in the North region there was an increase of almost 8% in the murder rate.
Violence in the Amazon
The biggest increase was in Amazonas (54%). In the Amazon region, the disproportion of intentional violent deaths is very clear. In 2021, 13 of the 30 most violent Brazilian municipalities were in this territory, according to the yearbook.
In the southwest of Amazonas, the region where journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous man Bruno Araújo Pereira were murdered, there was a 507% increase in violent deaths between 2019 and 2021.
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Across the country, in addition to Amazonas, five states showed an increase: Amapá (30,2%), Piauí (10,3%), Rondônia (8,8%), Roraima (5,8%) and Bahia (0,2. two%). The Northeast regions and the state of Rio de Janeiro also have discrepant rates.
8th country that kills the most in the world
Even with the reduction in 2021, Brazil is still the 8th most violent and the leading country in absolute numbers of homicides in the world, according to the ranking of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Brazilian statistics in relation to other countries also stand out when we look at the participation of homicide as a cause in the total number of registered deaths.
As shown in the latest publication of the “Global Burden of Morbidity”, a survey carried out by the Institute for Health and Metrics Evaluation, the number of homicides in Brazil was 90 times higher than in countries like Japan in 2019, the year the study was last published.
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Records of intentional violent deaths (MVI) include:
- intentional homicides (including femicides)
- robberies (robberies followed by death)
- bodily injury followed by death
- deaths due to police intervention
Armament in Brazil
Shortly after the release of the data from the Violence Monitor, President Jair Bolsonaro associated the greater ease of “good” civilians obtaining firearms to reduce violent deathsas. The Ministry of Justice reiterated the president's argument and the Senate website made a publication warning of the risk of misinformation.
Bolsonaro has defended the arming of the civilian population since his 2018 electoral campaign and, until March of this year, his government published 38 legislative changes to make access to weapons and ammunition in the country more flexible, according to survey by the Sou da Paz Institute.
Data from the FSB yearbook showed that, during the Bolsonaro government, the number of people with firearm registration grew by almost 500%, exceeding the total number of private weapons in the country, today exceeding the arsenal held by the civil and military police. The seizures, however, fell by 2% according to data from the Federal Police and state departments.
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In 2019 the Map of Firearms in Brazilian Microregions estimated that a 1% increase in firearms increases the homicide rate by up to 2%. The study was carried out by the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA). In 2021, 76% of intentional violent deaths in Brazil were caused by firearms.
What reduces murders?
For the president of the Forum, Renato Sérgio Lima, “this drop is often motivated by a series of factors that have nothing to do with national public security policy”.
Curto Curatorship
- Brazil has the lowest homicide rate in 10 years, with an average of 130 deaths per day (Stay)
- Number of murders drops 7% in Brazil in 2021 and is the lowest in the historical series (G1)
- Inappropriate and abusive use of lethal force: for every police officer killed, there are 34 people killed by police officers in the country (G1)
- Gun licenses grow almost five times under the Bolsonaro government; Army has 674 thousand active authorizations, shows Yearbook (G1)
- Homicides fall in Brazil, but increase in the Amazon (Folha de S. Paulo)
- Homicides increased by 507% in a region where journalist and indigenous people disappeared(CNN)
- Firearms: to what extent can citizens defend themselves? (Senate Agency)
- Number of weapons destroyed drops in the first 3 years of the Bolsonaro government (Find out)
