Crime in Brazil: Features, counteraction, research directions

Abstract

The article focuses on a wide range of issues related to the current crime situation in Brazil and covers social and economic context, features and trends, most dangerous crimes, key victim groups, countermeasures, crime statistics, and research. Special attention is paid to the COVID-19 pandemic as a factor that has influenced crime all over the world including Brazil. Lack of research on crime in Brazil in Russian criminology determines the aim of this study: to describe the main types of criminal activities in Brazil, trends in criminality, the most vulnerable groups at risk to suffer from crime, examples of crime control and areas of interest for criminologists. The article includes analysis of the Penal Code of Brazil and its amendments, other national laws, crime statistics including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) data, reports of various international and Brazilian organizations dealing with crime issues, foreign scientific literature, Russian studies on Latin America. In the preparation of the article, the authors used general and specific scientific methods including analysis; synthesis; formal and legal analysis; historical, sociological, and criminological research; and expert assessment. The authors conclude that the most worrisome types of crime in Brazil are street crimes (especially in large cities), violent crimes (Brazil is known as a country with a very high rate of murder), organized crime, drug trafficking, and corruption. The latter group of crimes is associated with unlawful acts of the country's highest authorities. The so-called “sky-high murder rate” in the country is caused by a high level of unemployment (mostly among younger people), huge income inequality in population, availability of fire arms, activities of street gangs and armed groups involved in drug trafficking, prevalence of domestic violence, existence of so-called favellas, i.e., areas of the poorest population residence. Besides, there is an association between an increased level of some types of crimes and the COVID-19 pandemic. The most vulnerable groups at risk to become crime victims are females, law enforcement officers, environmental activists, and indigenous people. The high rate of victims belonging to the first group forced the Brazilian legislator to establish criminal responsibility for murder of women in a special Penal Code norm (Feminitfdio). Another sensible problem related to violence in general is police officers' fire arms use leading to a large number of killed persons (police killing, letali-dade policial). The authors pay special attention to various programs of federal, regional and local authorities aimed at reduction of the crime rate and diminishing the harmful consequences. The authors emphasize the well-organized structure of criminological research in Brazil. The main research centers are the Brazilian Institute of Criminal Sciences (In-stituto Brasileiro de Ciencias Criminais) and the Brazilian Forum of Public Security (Forum Brasileiro de Seguranga Publica).