A study released by the Sou da Paz Institute this Thursday (20) points out that black men are three times more likely to be killed by firearms than non-black men in Brazil. According to the report “Armed Violence and Racism: The role of firearms in Racial Inequality”this number corresponds to a rate of 211%.
The fourth edition of the study highlighted that, although the Although there has been a decline, armed violence remains at constant levels and mainly affects men — who represent 94% of victims.
The study, based on official data from SIM (Mortality Information System) and Sinan (Notifiable Diseases Information System), analyzed homicide records between 2012 and 2023 and records of non-lethal armed violence until 2024.
According to the research, with 81.2 deaths per 100,000 men, a number three times higher than the rate observed among adolescents and four times higher than among older men.
In addition to gender and age, the study points out that .
According to the report, the North and Northeast regions lead in homicide rates. In 2023, the Northeast alone accounted for almost half of the deaths of men caused by firearms, with the highest rate in the country with 55.8 deaths per 100,000 men. Of these victims, 90% were black.
The North region, marked by land and environmental conflicts, illegal mining and disputes between factions, appears in second place, with 45.75 deaths per 100 thousand men. Next, the Southeast concentrates 20% of homicides, but with the lowest rate among regions (15.3 per 100 thousand).
The research also showed that the South also has relatively lower rates (19.6), being the only region where there is a predominance of non-black victims (66%).
Most violent states and capitals
According to the research, these are among the states with the highest absolute numbers of armed homicides since 2012:
- Bahia: 5,209 registered armed homicides;
- Pernambuco: 2,810 armed homicides recorded;
- Rio de Janeiro: 2,596 registered armed homicides.
However, when looking at the homicide rate per 100 thousand men, Amapá leads the ranking (111.5), followed by Bahia (73.2), Pernambuco (62), Alagoas (58) and Ceará (52.8). In the capitals, the worst rates are in Macapá (123.5), Salvador (107.5), Recife (74.4), and Maceió (72.9).
The research points out that, “contrary to what usually happens with feminicides, public places are where the majority of men’s deaths by firearms occur.”
Em 2023, 49% of male homicides took place on streets or roads, while houses represented 11.6% of crime scenes (where the proportion and incidence tends to be higher among the elderly). Even though streets, roads and houses record these percentages, the research observed that a portion of the places where crimes occur are not specified (26%).
Between 2012 and 2024, more than 58,500 reports of armed violence against men were registered in the health system, with 5,605 notifications in 2024 alone, a number that corresponds to an increase of 59% in three years.
According to the research, just like in lethal armed violence, the majority of victims are black men, and the street is the main place where crimes happen, sgiven that 50% of victims are black and 44% are non-black.
For Carolina Ricardo, executive director of the Sou da Paz Institute, it is necessary recognize reality through the data analyzed in the research. “It is necessary to invest in preventing the factors of armed violence, controlling the availability of firearms in Brazilian society, both on the legal market and in combating illegal trafficking, a fundamental starting point for democratic public security policies to be successful”, pointed out the executive director.
