Homicides in Rio de Janeiro Drop, but Police Killings Rise

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In the month of August, security data in Rio de Janeiro follow a trend already observed throughout the year: a drop in the number of homicides and an increase in deaths due to the intervention of state agents in relation to the same period last year.

From January to August 2019 there were 2,717 homicides, a decrease of 21 percent compared to the same period in 2018 (3,461). In August of this year, there were 318 murders.

The number of deaths due to intervention by state agents escalated from 1,075 from January to August 2018, to 1,249 in the same period in 2019 – an increase of 16 percent. In August of this year, there were 170 deaths caused by the state.

In July, state agents killed 194 people, the highest figure since 1998 when the data began to be counted.

The figures come in the wake of the hard-line speech and police operations promoted by Governor Wilson Witzel, who was elected under the banner of strengthening public safety.

For Professor Ignacio Cano of the Laboratory for Analysis of Violence of the State University of Rio de Janeiro, it is necessary to wait for the evolution of statistics before relating the security policy of the Witzel government to the reduction of homicides.

“Of course, Witzel will say that he is killing the people who kill and that therefore [the numbers] are falling. But you have to wait a while and see how they [the numbers] evolve,” said the Professor.

Witzel said on Wednesday, September 18th, that prisoners should lose the right to intimate visits in prison, which he called “sexual freedom.” He also advocated that the maximum penalty for participation in organized crime be raised to 50 years in prison.

Source: Folhapress