Femicide hits all-time high in Brazil

While latest crime statistics from Brazil have shown an encouraging reduction in murder rates, trends of violence against women are very worrying indeed. Violent deaths have fallen 10.8 percent Brazil-wide in 2018, yet femicide cases have gone up 4 percent in the same period.

Femicide differs from murder, as it involves female victims who are subjected to lethal violence in connection with their gender, or domestic violence.

Meanwhile, rape and domestic violence figures have also seen increases.

This data comes from the 2019 Brazilian Public Security Annual, a yearly research project carried out by the Brazilian Public Security Forum (FBSP).

Murders down, femicide rates up

Femicide was defined as a specific crime in 2015. Classified as a sub-category of murder, it occurs when a woman is murdered as a consequence of her gender (be it by way of discrimination or contempt) or in cases of domestic violence.

According to Cristina Neme, one of the FBSP’s researchers, the femicide law has been an important advance in the field of Brazilian public security. “It helps to give visibility to these types of crimes,” she tells The Brazilian Report. “If we look...