If India topped the murder statistics in 2006, it is only because figures for Brazil were not available. But figures for the previous year and reports of murders rising further mean there is no way India can dislodge Brazil from its deadly perch.
While 3 people per 1,00,000 are killed every year in India, Brazil's murder rate is 10 times more than that of India and translates to roughly six persons being killed every hour. In terms of civilian casualties, this is second only to Iraq, a war zone.
This nation of close to 200 million people is a prime example of how class-divide fuels crime. The country is littered with urban slums, which even the law enforcement agencies refuse to enter.
But the government says crime has been in the decline since states began an initiative to take back guns from the streets. It claims that the programme is a success with citizens in places like Rio de Janeiro, whose urban slums have the highest crime rates in Brazil, taking the initiative to return weapons by the thousands.
But it is not just about the guns. Total lack of faith in the police among people means taking law into your own hands is the only recourse. While most murders get reported due to the nature of the crime, disturbing surveys have also shown that only 25 per cent of all robberies and 15 percent of all rapes are reported nationwide.
Image: A cop from a special anti-narcotics unit points at the corpse of a drug dealer killed during a firefight in the Favela da Coreia shantytown in Bangu, some 60 km from downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Photograph: Andre Mourao/AFP/Getty Images
Also see: Nithari Serial Killings
Advertisement
