I study violence in Latin America, and I’ve observed a sharp increase in reports of religiously motivated crimes in Rio de Janeiro since 2016, in particular attacks on “terreiros” – the temples of the Candomblé and Umbanda faiths.

Violence has always been one of humanity’s most serious global challenges. Hundreds of millions of men, women, and children have been killed or maimed by armed conflict, crime, extremism, and sexual and gender-based violence. Not only does violence exact a massive social and economic toll, it depreciates human capital and undermines important civic and social institutions.

Brazil is the world’s murder capital. No other country even comes close. That is why it was big news when the country’s minister of justice recently announced that homicide rates fell by over 20 percent in 2019 compared to the same period last year.

Robert Muggah and Renata Giannini contributed with a section for this report.

The absolute number, prevalence and lethality of terrorist incidents has decreased significantly around the world since its peak in 2014.

The objective of this study is to offer a data-driven review of the growth, trends, and the principle reasons behind the rapid expansion of the prison population in the region during the past two decades.

Gun makers and military industry companies from all over the world gathered in Rio de Janeiro for Latin America’s largest defense and security fair Tuesday, hoping to benefit from Brazil’s new far-right administration and President Jair Bolsonaro’s vow to loosen gun laws.

Brazil has an uneasy co-existence with homicide. At least 1,060,000 Brazilians have been murdered since 2000.

This volume is the culmination of a special Inter-American Dialogue project. Unlike other Dialogue publications, its essays attempt to stand back
and take a broad view of Latin America.

in a country plagued by rising levels of violent crime, the sentiment is widely popular with voters — and reflected in government policy

This Strategic Paper features the main results of the Childhood Security Index (CSI) application regarding participants from the Bola Pra Frente Institute, which is located in the Complexo do Muquiço and attends children and teenagers from neighborhoods such as Guadalupe, Deodoro and others in Rio de Janeiro’s North Zone.

Interview with Ilona Szabó about prison system in Brazil

This Strategic Paper describes the first pilot study of the Child Security Index (CSI) and its usage as an open source application to capture children’s perceptions on violence.

Americas Quarterly – Economic growth alone won’t stem violent crime. But the right policies – and leadership – can make a difference

BID – A vast array of public and private policies and programs are underway. Most of them can be categorized as “citizen security” interventions