Among deaths committed by police officers in the state of Rio de Janeiro, 61% are not investigated. The conclusion is pointed out in the study Police Lethality in Rio de Janeiro and Responses from the Public Ministry.
The data are from the Justice Forum, an articulation of members of the judiciary system with members of civil society. The group found that more than half of these occurrences, when they are not supported by the argument of self-defense, are archived due to lack of evidence.
According to the Public Security Institute (ISP), in 2021, more than 87% of deaths in these actions were black people, who represent 52% of the population. In the same year, the death rate in police actions decreased by 30% in relation to white people and increased by 5.8% in relation to black people.
The Justice Forum survey leads to the conclusion that more than 90% of homicide investigations involving security agents were confidential and that less than 9% resulted in a complaint by the Rio Public Ministry.
The survey was based on cases between 2011 and 2021, but the deaths of more than 23,000 people occurred between 1993 and 2021. Researcher Pablo Nunes, who signs the report with Jonas Pacheco, mentions what needs to be improved in relation to investigations of deaths resulting from police violence.
“Improve transparency mechanisms so that the population can, not only follow the work carried out by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, but also demand that the work be done, that the control of police activity be done more efficiently, in view of the problematic case that Rio de Janeiro has in relation to police lethality”.
The conclusion is that the lack of information about confidential processes prevented the analyzes from being carried out with more security and that, for that, it is necessary to understand how the information produced by the Public Ministry is produced, systematized and made available.
In a note, the MP informed that it reinforces the commitment to improve its performance within the constitutional and legal limits of its attribution. And that the area of public security is the focus of institutional action and also involves the actions of powers and other institutions.
