The number of murders in Brazil fell for the first time in three years. There were 57,341 cases in 2018, lower than in 2014.

The number of people killed by police, however, hit a record high with 6,220 cases. This means police officers caused 1 in 10 violent deaths.

The data comes from the 13th Brazilian Public Safety Yearbook, released yesterday by the Brazilian Public Safety Forum.

The data comes from the 13th Brazilian Public Safety Yearbook (Foto: Yan Boechat/Folhapress) - Folhapress

Sao Paulo is the state with the lowest murder rate in the country: 9.5 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in 2018. It is also one of the places where the police kill the most.

In 2018, police agents caused 19.7% of violent deaths.

The two factors, however, are not always related. In Rio, 22.8% of violent deaths last year were committed by security forces, while the murder rate is 39.1 per 100,000 residents.

Police lethality in Brazil has been growing at least since 2016. There was a 20% increase in 2018 over 2017 and 47% compared to 2016.

The profile of the victims shows that most are black (75.4%), are between 18 and 29 years old (68.2%) and only studied until elementary school (81.5%).

Translated by Kiratiana Freelon

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