Number of Violent Deaths Falls in the Majority of the Country

Factors leading to decrease include states working together and less conflict between factions

Salvador

The number of violent deaths fell in at least 20 states and the federal district in the first trimester of 2019, compared to the same period last year. 

All of the 21 states with available data experienced a decrease in the number, which includes homicides, theft followed by death and injury followed by death.

Folha analyzed government data but it does not include deaths caused by police, which was not turned over by a majority of the states. 

Folha analyzed government data but it does not include deaths caused by police, which was not turned over by a majority of the states. (Foto: Avener Prado/Folhapress, COTIDIANO) Código do Fotógrafo: 20516 ***EXCLUSIVO FOLHA*** - Folhapress

The first trimester numbers continue a fall in violent deaths that began in 2018, after reaching a peak in 2017 with 63,800 violent deaths, according to eh Brazilian Forum on Public Security. 

High population states like São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Bahia and Rio Grande do Sul are among those with the best data. In São Paulo, the violent deaths fell from 975 to 813, a reduction of 7.1 percent. 

The other states in the Northeast, which also experienced a previous increase in violent deaths, saw the number of violent deaths fall, especially in Sergipe, Rio Grande do Norte and Pernambuco.

Among the most populous states, the highlight was Rio de Janeiro, with a 26.9% drop in violent deaths - not counting those killed by the police.

Renato Sérgio Lima, director-president of the Brazilian Forum of Public Security, says the reduction in the number of deaths follows a trend that started last year.

He says the fall is the result of a political environment in which security became a priority for state governments, which started to incorporated more integrated action.

Translated by Kiratiana Freelon

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