Homicides in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: an analysis of lethal violence

Abstract

The evolution of rates were analyzed for the following categories: murder, larceny, bodily harm followed by death, homicide for resistance to police resulting in death, policeman killed, missing persons and dead bodies found in the state and city of Rio de Janeiro and in Integrated Public Security Area 16 (AISP 16). An ecological study was conducted for the period from 2002 to 2013, using data from the Public Security Institute. To analyze the time trend and evolution of murder charges, resistance to police resulting in death and missing persons rates, Joinpoint regression was performed, using these rates as the dependent variables and the calendar year as the independent variable. For the other categories only the time trends of the rates were analyzed for the relative change in rates at the beginning and end of the period. There were falls in rates in all categories, except for missing persons. The murder rate showed a significant downward trend in the three locations. The results contributed to definition of the pattern of violence in the three locations based on the dialogue between the social sciences, public health and safety that made it possible to establish subjective and objective aspects linked to the study findings.

Public health; Violence; Homicide; Missing persons; Resistance to police resulting in death