Public (In)Security: an analysis of the socioeconomic factors that underlie the criminal policy on homicides in Brazil

Author(s)

Ana Carolina de Morais Colombaroli

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Franca. 2018-01-17.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais. Franca
• Defense date: 2017-10-04
• Advisor: Fernando Andrade Fernandes

Abstract

Brazil has a very high homicide rate. Approximately 60,000 homicides occur each year, with a rate of approximately 29 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, which puts the country as the one with the higher number of homicides, with a much higher rate than the world average. The rates have been rising steadily since the 1980s, but despite the relative antiquity of the problem, the state has not been able to contain the homicides. The objective of this thesis is to undertake an analysis of the homicides in Brazil, facing the social and economic factors related to them, as well as the weakening of the penal norm. To this end, the bibliographical research is utilized to deal with the transformations of contemporary society, risk, insecurity, loosening of social control. We utilize the analysis of statistical data to establish an overview of the homicides and social and economic exclusion that lie behind the problem, demonstrating that the problem focuses on specific groups. We also conjugate the bibliographical research and the analysis of data about the Brazilian criminal justice system and its institutions, which have not been able to cope with the advance of lethal violence. The thesis breaks with a traditional pattern of criminal law research, making choice for empirical and data analysis, without being considered a strictly criminological work, since the analysis of these data is related to the understanding of the effectiveness of the criminal law about homicides. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 16/14856-2 - About the public security policies in relation to murder in Brazilian legal system
• Grantee: Ana Carolina de Morais Colombaroli
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master