Sociodemographic, criminal and forensic characteristics of a sample of female children and adolescents murdered in Brazil. 2010-2016

Abstract

Introduction: In Brazil, violence, regardless of the type, is the leading cause of death in adolescents and young adults.Objective: To describe the characteristics of the homicides in which female children and adolescents were the victims based on the autopsy reports recorded in the morgue of the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil.Materials and methods: Cross-sectional study in which 70 autopsy reports of girls and female adolescents who were killed between January 2010 and December 2016 were analyzed. The cases were evaluated according to the homicide motive or the homicide perpetrator, and five categories were established: drug trafficking related death, femicide, homicide perpetrated by a family member, death preceded by sexual violence, and death related to other transgressions.Results: There was a significant increase in the number of girls and female adolescents who were murdered between 2010 (n=7) and 2016 (n=19). Most of the homicides (64.2%) were related to drug, while femicide occurred in 15.7% of the cases. Homicides perpetrated by a family member, or preceded by sexual violence or related with other transgressions were less frequent as they occurred in 10%, 5.7% and 4.2% of the cases, respectively.Conclusion: Greater attention must be paid to the increase in the number of drug trafficking related homicides among female adolescents when creating and implementing relevant public policies.

Female Homicide and the COVID-19 Pandemic in a State of the Northeast Region of Brazil

“…During the containment measures and epidemiological emergency management of the COVID-19 pandemic, some studies have shown that the circumstances of social distancing increased social problems and brought new stressors, including risks to physical and psychological health, isolation and loneliness, many school and business closures, economic vulnerability, and job losses (Henson, 2020; Usher et al, 2020). Due to these reasons, women were more vulnerable to the risk of domestic violence, as the victims remained confined in the same place with their aggressors, making it difficult to seek help (John et al, 2020; Machado-Rios et al, 2020; Pattojoshi et al, 2021). The quarantine also reduced the options for women to seek immediate assistance, as did the limited health infrastructure, and social and legal services (Fawole et al, 2021; John et al, 2020).…”

“…Restricted access to victim support services during this period is also an aspect that should be noted (de Paz et al, 2020). In addition to the decrease in police interventions, the limitation of health services, and the courts being closed resulted in a difficulty to report violence cases and contributed to impunity (John et al, 2020; Machado-Rios et al, 2020).…”

Gender-related and non-gender-related female homicide in Porto Alegre, Brazil, from 2010 to 2016

“…One hypothesis for increased female homicides in younger groups is the abuse of alcohol and other substances by the younger generation of men, which makes them victims and perpetrators of multiple forms of violence, including gender-based violence [9,40]. Lethal domestic violence implies a significant loss of life years and a reduction in overall life expectancy in affected families [41].…”