Brazil: Amazonas State has the highest violent death rate; São Paulo State has the lowest

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – After registering a 54% increase in murders, Amazonas became the state with the highest violent death rate in Brazil in 2021. There were 36.8 victims per 100,000 inhabitants. At the other end of the list is São Paulo, with 6.6.

G1 conducted the survey in partnership with the Brazilian Forum for Public Safety (FBSP) and the Nucleus for the Study of Violence at São Paulo University (USP) based on data from 26 states and the Federal District.

The Northern and Northeastern states top the list of those with more murders per inhabitant. The states in the South and Southeast register fewer violent deaths in proportion to the population.

Amazonas is followed by Ceará (35.7), Amapá (35.6), and Pernambuco (34.8) in the list of the most violent in 2021.

Soon after comes Bahia (34), which leads in absolute terms. There were 5,099 murder victims on Bahian soil last year, more than any other state.

Among the least violent, Santa Catarina (9.2) stands out along with São Paulo – the only ones to register a rate below ten deaths per 100 thousand inhabitants. The Federal District (10.5) and Minas Gerais (11.3) are close to this level.

HIGH IN THE NORTH, LOW IN THE SOUTHEAST

According to Samira Bueno, director of the FBSP, the violence in Amazonas and the states of the Legal Amazon is the result of the combination of drug trafficking with environmental crimes – such as land grabbing, illegal mining, and deforestation – without an integrated and effective fight by the authorities.

“The state is experiencing an overlapping crisis in the field of public security: on the one hand, after a period of relative stability with the apparent monopoly of the “Comando Vermelho” gang in the Manaus region, violence has started to grow again with “Família do Norte” (FDN) gang leaders allying with other criminal groups to try to reconquer strategic territories for drug trafficking; on the other hand, the growth of homicides in regions where deforestation is advancing indicates the profusion of land conflicts and environmental crimes that have gripped the region,” she explains.

“The states of the Legal Amazon are experiencing an imbalance due to the weakening of inspection and police institutions to control criminal behavior in the invasion of indigenous land, land grabbing, timber, and even drugs,” says Bruno Paes Manso, from NEV-USP.

One of the origins of violence in Amazonas is the expansion of criminal factions from the Southeast, especially the “Primeiro Comando da Capital” (PCC) gang from São Paulo and the Comando Vermelho from Rio.

“Between 2016 and 2017, we experienced a war between two criminal groups, the PCC and the Comando Vermelho. And this war spread throughout the country, especially in states in the North and Northeast. There has been a lessening of this conflict in some territories, and in others, we have a certain monopoly of one group. When a single group consolidates itself in the territory, it reduces the conflict,” says Samira.

According to Bruno Paes Manso, this consolidation of organized crime began in São Paulo, which in the last two decades has registered a significant reduction in homicides. According to the researcher, the monopoly of a single criminal group, the PCC, and the adoption of rules of conduct among faction members to reduce risks and increase profits contributed to this decline.

“The case of the São Paulo homicide reduction was one of the best-documented and most interesting. The state reduced murders by more than 80% between 2000 and 2021 and became, proportionally, the least violent in Brazil. Since the early 2000s, the crime scene in São Paulo has transformed and become more professional and profitable because PCC – created inside the prisons – began to establish a series of rules of conduct to reduce the risks and increase the profits of those who were active in the crime scene,” he explains.

While guaranteeing control of São Paulo, the PCC expanded and took the violence to other states, explains Bruno.

“The PCC, in this way, helped this Brazilian criminal scene by taking more merchandise, more weapons to other states. At the same time, as it expanded its influence, it created several state rivalries and resistance to the influence of the São Paulo group. Thus, in the same period in which the group became hegemonic in São Paulo, contributing to professionalizing crime, reducing conflicts, and increasing profits in the state, the faction helped export violence and homicides to the rest of Brazil in the face of competition with the new prison gangs that began to form and spread throughout Brazil.”