Crime and violence in Brazil: Systematic review of time trends, prevalence rates and risk factors

Abstract Between 1980 and 2010 there were 1 million homicides in Brazil. Dramatic increases in homicide rates followed rises in inequality, more young men in the population, greater availability of firearms, and increased drug use. Nevertheless, disarmament legislation may have helped reduce homicid...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Aggression and violent behavior 2013-09, Vol.18 (5), p.471-483
Main Authors: Murray, Joseph, Cerqueira, Daniel Ricardo de Castro, Kahn, Tulio
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Aggressive behavior
Biological and medical sciences
Brazil
Crime
Criminal statistics
Drug abuse
Drug use
Firearms
Homicide
Literature reviews
Medical sciences
Middle-income country
Offending
Prevalence
Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Risk
Risk factors
Social behavior disorders. Criminal behavior. Delinquency
Systematic review
Violence
Youth
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Summary:Abstract Between 1980 and 2010 there were 1 million homicides in Brazil. Dramatic increases in homicide rates followed rises in inequality, more young men in the population, greater availability of firearms, and increased drug use. Nevertheless, disarmament legislation may have helped reduce homicide rates in recent years. Despite its very high rate of lethal violence, Brazil appears to have similar levels of general criminal victimization as several other Latin American and North American countries. Brazil has lower rates of drug use compared to other countries such as the United States, but the prevalence of youth drug use in Brazil has increased substantially in recent years. Since 1990, the growth of the Brazilian prison population has been enormous, resulting in the fourth largest prison population in the world. Through a systematic review of the literature, we identified 10 studies assessing the prevalence of self-reported offending in Brazil and 9 studies examining risk factors. Levels of self-reported offending seem quite high among school students in Brazil. Individual and family-level risk factors identified in Brazil are very similar to those found in high-income countries.
ISSN:1359-1789
1873-6335
DOI:10.1016/j.avb.2013.07.003