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Brazil sets new record for homicides

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Re: Brazil sets new record for homicides

#151

Post by marcosdumay »

avip wrote: post #117
dbelchamber wrote: post #2

Eesh. If all of this is accurate, it is problematic indeed. I wonder how many of these homicides would cease to occur if drugs were made legal in Brazil (I wonder about this worldwide). I've never understood why it's difficult for people to understand the awful incentive structures that making drugs illegal puts into motion.

Why do you think homocide rates are somehow correlated with legality of drug usage?

Because 80% of them are directly related to drug dealers. (Or at least that's what the news keeps saying here.)

Re: Brazil sets new record for homicides

#152

Post by mnm1 »

dbelchamber wrote: post #2

Eesh. If all of this is accurate, it is problematic indeed. I wonder how many of these homicides would cease to occur if drugs were made legal in Brazil (I wonder about this worldwide). I've never understood why it's difficult for people to understand the awful incentive structures that making drugs illegal puts into motion.

This is the only real solution. No country has yet tried it. Legalizing weed (Uruguay, some US states) is not even in the same ballpark as what you suggest here (which is my suggestion too in another comment). Until you can go into a pharmacy and buy coke, heroin, and other shit like that over the counter, this problem will never go away. Maybe if murder rates double again and again it'll motivate people to change their government enough to get this done. I don't know how many people must die before governments start to change their stupid drug policies, but clearly, we are nowhere near the amount needed. A fucking waste of millions of lives (if you count incarceration too). Just to be clear, Brazil is in no way unique here.

Re: Brazil sets new record for homicides

#154

Post by lhorie »

malandrew wrote: post #140
mrisoli wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm from Belo Horizonte and the constant anxiety is real, of course it's not a problem every moment but shows up in every situation. Waiting for the bus every day of the week for 15-30min, you're very exposed, and should be careful with your phone out, and some people learn your commute time, follow you, it's rare, but if you're not paying attention, it can happen. I personally used to(don't live there anymore) doubl…

Brazil is the example I use to explain to people why I'm in favor of the 2nd amendment and Stand Your Ground laws. When owning a gun is criminal, only criminals will have guns and everyone else will be unable to defend themselves. If ordinary citizens had guns, at least in their own home, the criminals would think twice about breaking and entering because they won't know which homes are armed.

In Brazil? I don't think US gun mentality works there.

Have you seen what middle class houses look like in Sao Paulo? They have metal bars in all windows, tall spiked gates and tetra locks are fairly common.

But that doesn't stop thieves from being crafty and daring. They rob people at gunpoint at busy intersections and ATMs in broad daylight, do flash kidnappings, etc. There was even a raid at a police headquarters one time.

And we haven't even got to favelas, which are an entire different can of worms.

Re: Brazil sets new record for homicides

#155

Post by matheusmoreira »

wishinghand wrote: post #147
matheusmoreira wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They aren't. Acquiring a firearm legally is a ridiculously bureaucratic process where you must submit to psychological evaluations by the military and "justify" your "need" to own a gun. If you manage to get approved by that long process, your reward is an extremely limited selection of revolvers chambered in weak calibers that you can't carry with you outside your home or place of work. The weapon must be registered…

If the police are refusing to do their job, that sounds like a bigger problem. Professionals trained in firearm usage and gang suppression would be far more effective than a disparate group of individuals owning a non-revolving pistol and shotgun. England doesn’t have this problem despite having very restrictive laws.

It is a huge problem. I don't fully understand the causes myself but corruption is likely to be part of it. People just don't have what is necessary to do their jobs and this demoralizes them. They start neglecting the problems ("I'm not gonna risk my life for this salary just to arrest some robber who'll probably be released anyway because he's a child") or become corrupt as well ("I'm gonna make some money on the side overlooking criminal activity"). Instead of stopping crime, the authorities seem to develop a state of equilibrium with it.

So it comes down to this: do you trust your government? I don't trust mine. I'd rather they decentralized public security instead so that people can at least try to do what they haven't been doing in decades.

Re: Brazil sets new record for homicides

#156

Post by burntrelish1273 »

Holy moly! The irony is private gun ownership is illegal but all/most of the criminals have them. Two people on a motorcycle is an implicit threat of robbery, kidnapping, murder, etc.

Also, it's sad that ASP videos coming from Brazil involving off-duty police is it's own meme.

Maybe it's not gun ownership or not, but the quantity of firearms in private hands, massive income inequality and essentially a failed state... conditions, ability, motive and opportunity.

Re: Brazil sets new record for homicides

#157

Post by goshx »

lhorie wrote: post #154
malandrew wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brazil is the example I use to explain to people why I'm in favor of the 2nd amendment and Stand Your Ground laws. When owning a gun is criminal, only criminals will have guns and everyone else will be unable to defend themselves. If ordinary citizens had guns, at least in their own home, the criminals would think twice about breaking and entering because they won't know which homes are armed.

In Brazil? I don't think US gun mentality works there. Have you seen what middle class houses look like in Sao Paulo? They have metal bars in all windows, tall spiked gates and tetra locks are fairly common. But that doesn't stop thieves from being crafty and daring. They rob people at gunpoint at busy intersections and ATMs in broad daylight, do flash kidnappings, etc. There was even a raid at a police headquarters…

Well, yes, they do it because they know the population is not armed.

Re: Brazil sets new record for homicides

#158

Post by wenc »

bluedino wrote: post #76
anoncoward111 wrote: post #3

I recently moved to a "bad neighborhood" and was very surprised to learn that there was only one murder here last year, and it was between friends who had stolen something from each other. There were only around 13,000 murders last year in the US, a number that used to be more like 26,000 during the crack epidemic 30 years ago. US population has increased by 10s of millions since then, but murders continue to drop. A…

>> here were only around 13,000 murders last year in the US And 5% of those were in Chicago alone.

Not sure why Chicago was brought up, but it is worth noting that it is a huge city with a population that is nearly the size of the entire state of Michigan. Despite popular imagination, in terms of per capita homicide rates, Chicago is actually middle of the pack. [1] Newark has a higher homicide rate.

[1] https://www.thetrace.org/2018/04/highest-murder-rates-us-cit...

Re: Brazil sets new record for homicides

#159

Post by [deleted] »

jeanlucas wrote: post #135
holografix wrote: post #124

Another Brazilian here. I’ve lived in Australia for 15 years, Brisbane for 5 and Sydney for 10. I reckon both cities are some of the cleanest safest cities in the world. I grew up in Rio, left when I was 20. Still to this day I’ve got the street reflexe. My partner, who’s Swedish, finds it mostly amusing, sometimes rude. For example: I won’t sit with my back to a door or a hallway, corridor etc. I don’t tolerate peop…

One more Brazilian here to confirm the stereotypes. I always think photographers are like heroes for the audacity to go out with good cameras in hand all the time.

[deleted]
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