Variations in Homicide Rates in Brazil: An Explanation Centred on Criminal Group Conflicts

Abstract

Variações nas taxas de homicídios no Brasil: Uma explicação centrada nos conflitos faccionais propõe uma explicação para as variações das taxas de homicídios no Brasil nas duas últimas décadas. A partir da comparação de experiências etnográficas vividas no universo faccional de quatro capitais (São Paulo, Porto Alegre, São Luís e Maceió), propomos duas estratégias analíticas: 1) a desagregação de séries quantitativas de taxas de homicídios por perfis de vítimas e 2) a construção de sinopses históricas dos conflitos faccionais locais. Demonstramos como as taxas de homicídio, em perfis sociodemográficos específicos, oscilam a partir das mudanças nos conflitos faccionais locais e puxam as variações das taxas agregadas.The paper proposes an explanation for the variations in homicide rates in Brazil in the past two decades. Based on the comparison of ethnographic experiences lived in the criminal universe of four capital cities (São Paulo, Porto Alegre, São Luís and Maceió), we propose two analytical strategies: 1) the breakdown of quantitative homicide rate data by victim profile, and 2) the construction of historical synopses of conflicts between factions at the local level. We demonstrate how homicide rates, in specific socio-demographic profiles, oscillate based on changes in conflicts between factions at the local level conflicts, and influence variations in the aggregate rates.

The Impact of Peer Pressure Mathematical Models Armed Criminal Groups with Criminal Mapping Area

“…The SIR model can be used to analyze the behavior of armed criminals who are considered to be infectious diseases. The community population in the mapping of criminal areas is divided into four community groups (Schmidt et al, 2021) (Feltran et al, 2022). The population that becomes a vulnerable group to become a new member of a criminal group is N .…”

“…The results of both studies show that the SEIR model is rational to consider for criminal forms of group behaviour. The development of the SEIR model is realistic to consider because before a person commits a crime, interaction is needed between groups who will commit a crime and have committed a crime (Nur, 2020) (Garriga & Phillips, 2022) (Feltran et al, 2022). Research conducted by Nur (2020) Garriga & Phillips (2022) Feltran et al (2022) also confirms that the closer the interaction between criminal group members, the greater the potential for criminal groups to recruit their members.…”

Citizenship regimes in Brazilian prisons: Hybrid, unjust and weak

“…Such a monopoly can be extremely lucrative as it transforms the illegal economy of the whole state into the faction's tax base and, as result, competition for prison control is ferocious. Brazil's recent criminal history is therefore dominated by faction wars: between the PCC and the Comando Vermelho (CV, or Red Command) in Western Brazil, between the CV and the Amigos dos Amigos (AdA, Friends of Friends), the Terceiro Comando and Terceiro Comando Puro in Rio de Janeiro, between the Familia do Norte (FDN, Family of the North) and the PCC in the middle Amazon, between Okaida (from Al Qaeda) and Estados Unidos in Paraiba, and so on (Feltran et al, 2022). Such wars take place in the streets, but also within prisons themselves where riots often lead to extremes of violence and cruelty, including torture, mutilation, decapitations, and dismemberment.…”

BETWEEN DREAMS AND SURVIVAL: The (Dis)Embeddedness of Neoliberalism among Entrepreneurial Workers from São Paulo's Peripheries

“…In my analysis I intend to take seriously what my research interlocutors say about themselves. This does not mean ‘buying their discourse’, but taking it as an epistemologically valid perspective (Feltran et al ., 2022). Thus, instead of a ‘critical sociology of domination’ or a ‘critical theory of society’, it is necessary to undertake a ‘sociology of criticism’ or a ‘sociology of critical society’, whose essential task is the reconstruction of the critical space in which the subjects operate (Boltanski and Thévenot, 1999).…”