Intentional Homicides in São Paulo City: A New Perspective

Abstract

The state of São Paulo faced a sharp decline, more than 70 per cent, in homicides rates in the first decade of 2000. This paper outlines some of the actions cited as having contributed to this reduction. The second part of the paper analyses homicides occurring in the city of Sao Paulo in 2012 and the first semester of 2013 with a focus on the involvement of police officers as perpetrators. The analysis reveals that one in every five killings in the city was committed by a police officer in 2012. It also discusses problems regarding the classification of homicides that can cause a bias in the statistics.

Keywords

• public security
• homicides reduction
• police violence
• criminal statistics