Report: Brazil police killed more than 11,000

[Bacchus39]

Source: AP


RIO DE JANEIRO – Police in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo have killed more than 11,000 people in the past six years, many execution-style, according to a report released Tuesday by Human Rights Watch.

Few of the officers have been charged in the extrajudicial killings, which are often labeled in police reports as the deaths of suspects who resisted arrest, the report said.

The 122-page declaration echoes a 2008 United Nations' finding that police throughout Brazil were responsible for a "significant portion" of 48,000 slayings the year before.

"Extrajudicial killing of criminal suspects is not the answer to violent crime," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. "The residents of Rio and Sao Paulo need more effective policing, not more violence from the police."



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091208/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_brazil_police_killings

[superconnected]

1. I'm shocked. If that's the police then nobody is safe.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. That's 10,992 more than you would expect.

[harkadog]

3. Bring on the Olympics!

[struggle4progress]

4. Brazil has had this problem for years, unfortunately:

Urban Police Violence in Brazil
Torture and Police Killings In Sao Paulo and Rio De Janeiro after Five Years
May 1, 1993
An update of a 1987 Americas Watch report, Urban Police Violence in Brazil describes incidents of torture and extra-judicial killings by police and updates specific cases previously reported. http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/1993/05/01/urban-police-violence-brazil

Final Justice
Police and Death Squad Homicides of Adolescents in Brazil
February 1, 1994
Despite the considerable attention that has been brought to homicides of adolescents, impunity for those responsible for these abuses has in most respects, continued to prevail. As the cases in Final Justice reveal, this impunity is the product of several factors, but one primary cause is the lack of political will to adequately investigate and prosecute those responsible for violence against children and adolescents. When the will to prosecute does exist, investigations and convictions are possible. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case ... http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/1994/02/01/final-justice


Fighting Violence with Violence
Human Rights Abuse and Criminality in Rio de Janeiro
January 1, 1996
The homicide rate in Rio de Janeiro tripled in the last 15 years and public concern grew apace. The press, prominent civic leaders, and politicians focused particularly on violence related to criminal gangs and drug trafficking. Unfortunately, law enforcement efforts to control crime relied on flagrant and numerous human rights abuses. This report documents instances of police brutality, including two massacres in which 27 residents of one of Rio's hillside slums were killed ... http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/1996/01/01/fighting-violence-violence


Police Brutality in Urban Brazil
April 1, 1997
Rapid, unplanned growth of Brazil’s urban centers—11 of its cities are home to more than a million people each—has been accompanied in most cases by soaring crime rates and public dissatisfaction with the criminal justice system. In several states, authorities responded with policies that tolerate or promote grave violations of the rights of criminal suspects. We examine extrajudicial executions, near-fatal shootings, and forced disappearances of civilians, and both the inadequate or constructive responses of political, prosecutorial, and judicial authorities ... http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/1997/04/01/police-brutality-urban-brazil

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

6. Yes. We have right-wingers claiming Lula brought this on us...

...when in fact it's been like this forever. Specifically in the two biggest cities, Rio and São Paulo. The underclass (i.e. favela dwellers) is largely considered "shoot at will" cannon fodder by the police and criminals alike.

And yes, we have something akin to the Republican base here. To them, all those insufficiently-albedo, spelling-challenged people should eat lead and be happy. You don't cure THAT with two terms of a moderate leftist President.

And then, every once in a blue moon, something nasty happens in Ipanema, and THEN it's the End Of The World As We Know It. :eyes:

But keep in mind: we hosted the Pan American Games (that's an Olympics with 25% of the countries) and everything went smoothly.

[struggle4progress]

8. Pixote and Who Killed Pixote? might be a good pair of movies for groups wanting to

raise consciousness around such issues

[WriteDown]

5. Expect that # to increase dramatically as they clear the streets...

for the olympics.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

9. Your solidarity towards the downtrodden is touching. -nt

[DBoon]

7. and freepers applaud...

because criminals can't get slippery defense lawyers to get them off, and taxpayers don't have to foot the bill for a trial

Seriously, I've run into many folks who think the police should just shoot suspected criminals on the spot. I suspect most of them are devoted talk radio followers.