Homicides are down in Brazil. But it’s not time for a victory lap

Recent data shows that Brazil recorded 40,824 homicides in 2022 — an average of 111 violent deaths per day. This is high, the equivalent of one out of every five homicides in the world occurring in Brazil. But it is also a 1 percent decrease from the previous year, and the lowest number in the historical series dating back to 2007.

At first glance, this seems to lend credence to far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro’s view on fighting crime. He advocated the indiscriminate use of firearms by the general population as a policy to curb violence. Criminals would “think twice”…