Intentional violent deaths in the country fall 2.4% in 2022, lowest level since 2011

The rate of intentional violent deaths fell by 2.4% in the country in 2022 compared to 2021, according to data from the Brazilian Yearbook of Public Security released this Thursday (20). The index is the lowest since 2011, when the historical series of the Brazilian Public Security Forum (FBSP) began.

The entity considers unintentional violent deaths to be those resulting from intentional homicides, robbery, bodily injury followed by death, police intervention and death of police officers.

The new edition of the Yearbook also revealed that investments in public safety grew by 11.6% compared to 2020 and totaled BRL 124.8 billion.

According to data released this Thursday (20), the rate of intentional violent deaths rose from 24 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2021 to 23.4 last year. In absolute numbers, the number dropped from 48,431 in 2021 to 47,508 in 2022.

The biggest falls were registered in the Northeast (-4.5%), North (-2.7%) and Southeast (-2%). However, the rate increased in the South (3.4%) and in the Midwest (0.8%). (see full list below)

Isabela Sobral, supervisor of the FBSP Data Center, explains that the declines in the North and Northeast were an “accommodation of numbers” after a growth from 2016. The two regions had a “very large explosion of violence” in previous years.

“Now, it is returning to the pre-explosion level. And this explosion in the North and Northeast is largely due to the issue of organized crime. Factions such as the PCC and the Comando Vermelho, which emerged in the Southeast in the 2000s, migrate to the North and Northeast regions and deaths explode,” he told the Brazil Agency.

Despite the drop in rates, the North and Northeast states are still the most violent, especially Amapá, with a rate of 50.6 per 100,000 inhabitants – more than double the national average. Next comes Bahia, with 47.1, and Amazonas, with 38.8.

The states with the lowest rates of lethal violence were São Paulo (8.4), Santa Catarina (9.1) and the Federal District (11.3).

Investments in public safety

Of the BRL 124.8 billion invested by the public authorities throughout 2022, BRL 101 billion took place in the states and BRL 14.4 billion in the Union. The Forum highlights that the Ministry of Justice revised the National Plan for Public Security and Social Defense, launched in 2018, and established goals to reduce intentional homicides, bodily injuries followed by death and robbery.

The folder defined that by 2030, the end of the term of validity of the current National Plan, the goal of reducing these crimes combined should reach the rate of 17 deaths for each group of 100,000 inhabitants. Data for 2022 show that the goal has already been reached in 54% of the 5,570 Brazilian municipalities.

“Are we on the path of reduction? Yes. In fact, it’s been two years since we observed this national decline. But we also see that there are some states that did not have a drop and had an increase. There are 12 states with rate increases. That is, it is necessary to observe the context of the states so that we can achieve the reduction in a more uniform way in the country”, completes Isabela Sobral.

See below the states that had the biggest drops in the index:

• Amapá (-25%);
• Amazonas (9.3%);
• Bahia (-5.9%);
• Ceará (-9%);
• Federal District (-10.1%);
• Espírito Santo (-4.8%);
• Goiás (-5.6%);
• Maranhão (-6.5%);
• Mato Grosso do Sul (-0.2%);
• Paraíba (-6.9%);
• Rio de Janeiro (-5.8%);
• Rio Grande do Norte (-7.7%);
• Roraima (-18.4%);
• Santa Catarina (-9%);
• Sergipe (-3.9%).

The highest increases in intentional violent deaths were recorded in the states:

• Acre (21%);
• Alagoas (4.2%);
• Mato Grosso (18.9%);
• Minas Gerais (2.2%);
• Pará (0.6%);
• Paraná (7.2%);
• Pernambuco (1.3%);
• Piauí (4.5%);
• Rio Grande do Sul (3.8%);
• Rondônia (14%);
• São Paulo (1.3%);
• Tocantins (5.5%).

victims’ profile

The Yearbook also points out that men are the main victims of intentional violent deaths, with an average of 91.4%, 76.5% of which are black. The rate remained stable in comparison with the previous survey.

Men are also the main victims of police interventions (99.2%), 83.1% of whom are black. The yearbook highlights that, even among robberies, which are robberies followed by death, the victimization of black people is greater than their proportional participation in the demographic composition of the Brazilian population.

Data from the Forum publication also reveal that 50.3% of the victims were between 12 and 29 years old, 75% of them in police interventions.

Among other data, the Yearbook also showed that there was an increase in the records of rapes (7%) and rapes of vulnerable people (8.2%) in 2022: 74.9 thousand victims, 88.7% of women and 11.3% of men.

“These numbers correspond to cases that were reported to law enforcement authorities and therefore represent only a fraction of the sexual violence experienced by women and men, girls and boys,” says the text.

The Yearbook points out that, in the absolute majority of cases, the abusers are known to the victims (82.7%), and only 17.3% of the records had unknown perpetrators of sexual violence. Among children and adolescents between 0 and 13 years of age victims of rape, the main perpetrators are family members (64.4% of cases) and 21.6% are known to the victim, but without a family relationship.