Brazil’s murder rate dropped by 19 per cent to reach 41,635 in 2019, compared to the previous year, according to annual data released by Globo’s Violence Monitor on Friday.
The 2019 figure represents the lowest murder rate the country has seen since 2007 when the media group started compiling the data alongside the University of Sao Paulo and the Brazilian Forum of Public Safety.
The drop can be attributed to the adoption of crime prevention programmes, better collaboration between security forces and the justice system and improvements to the prison system.
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Brazil nonetheless remains one of the most violent countries in the world.
President Jair Bolsonaro secured victory in the 2018 elections largely by presenting himself as a political outsider capable of ridding Brazil of the crime and corruption that has engulfed the country in recent years.
Though he has claimed responsibility for the improvement in crime rates, questions remain over the efficacy of his administration’s security policies.
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According to Insight Crime, many of the innovations of recent years were made at the state and not at the federal level.