Brazil’s Murder Rate Drops 22 Percent in Eight Months, but Remains High

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – This is shown in the national homicide index developed by G1 news site, based on official data from the 26 states and the Federal District.

There were 3,100 murders in August, compared to 3,900 in the same month last year. In the eight-month period, there were 27,517 violent deaths – 7,900 less than in January to August 2018 (35,422).

The downward trend in the country’s homicides has been demonstrated by G1 since the 2018 report – the largest drop in the past 11 years in the Brazilian Public Safety Forum’s historical series, at 13 percent. In the first half of this year, the drop was 22 percent – a continuing percentage.

The number of murders, however, remains high: on average, 114 people died per day in Brazil in 2019.

The survey is part of the Violence Monitor, a G1 partnership with the Center for the Study of Violence of the University of São Paulo (NEV-USP) and the Brazilian Public Safety Forum.

The data show that all states in the country showed a reduction in murders in the period and three states maintained a drop of over 30 percent in the year: Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, and Acre.

The Minister of Justice and Public Safety, Sérgio Moro, attributes the drop in the number of violent deaths in the country to the efforts of local and federal governments, quoting drug seizure records and the transfer of heads of criminal factions to federal prisons as measures that impacted the criminality rate.

Moro further states that the government is pursuing a policy of attempting to regain control of several penitentiaries in the country.

Source: G1