Daniel Uria, UPI, August 9, 2018

The number of murders in Brazil increased by by 3 percent to a record high of 63,880 in 2017, according to data released by the Brazilian Public Security Forum Thursday.

The data showed that 175 people were murdered each day and an overall murder rate of 30.8 per 100,000 people, up from 29.9 in 2016.

An average of 14 people were killed in interactions with police, up 20 percent from 2016.

Rapes also increased by 8 percent to to 60,018 and murders of women rose 6.1 percent to 4,539.

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Lima [Brazilian Public Security Forum Renato Sérgio de Lima] added most of the victims were young, black men and outdated laws and police procedures along with the rise of organized crime contributed to the increased murder rate.

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Santa Catarina state police sergeant Elisandro Lotin said not enough murderers are imprisoned and police focus on repressing criminals rather than preventing violent crimes.

“There is an impunity about homicide crimes in Brazil,” Lotin told The Guardian.

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