Cutting down crime, cutting down criminals

Police in Brazil's two biggest cities, Sao Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro, routinely commit unlawful executions, Human Rights Watch has alleged.

Quite aside from the recent cases cited, the overall numbers are staggering:

Police in Sao Paulo and Rio states have killed more than 11,000 people since 2003, while over the past five years there were more police killings in Sao Paulo (2,176) than in South Africa (1,623), which has a higher murder rate.

The article also notes:

a Sao Paulo police statement . . . pointed out that 50% of criminals involved in confrontations with police were arrested without being harmed, 33% escaped, and 17% were killed.

Not exactly reassuring, when the police themselves are saying that if you get into a "confrontation", you have a one in six chance of ending up dead. Full article here.

Posted by David on December 8, 2009 8:23 PM