December 26, 2022

19:12

Ívina Garcia – From Amazon Agency

MANAUS – The murder of people by crowds was a very common practice in ancient times, when religious people burned witches, fishermen were stoned and aggression against thieves and murderers were carried out in a public square. Even though it is considered an ancient attitude, lynching in Brazil is still recurrent.

A study conducted in Manaus, São Luís and Vitória shows that between 2011 and 2020 more than 600 people were victims of lynching. With 400 people in Manaus, 141 in Greater Vitória and 136 in Greater São Luís. According to the study, in 2020, there was at least one lynching every three days.

Considering only the urban area of Manaus, with 1,832,423 inhabitants, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the study chose to collect data from the most populated areas around the capitals São Luís (Maranhão) and Vitória (Espírito Santo), with 1,327,647 and 1,689,491 inhabitants, respectively.

Research

The survey involved a network of researchers from the Federal University of Amazonas (Ufam), State University of Maranhão (UEMA), Vila Velha University (UVV), Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES), Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) and Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), who gathered data from reports, commentaries, reports and ethnographies from Manaus, Greater São Luís and Greater Vitória.

With this, the study shows how each region behaved distinctly. Manaus recorded an increase in cases between 2016 and 2020, Greater São Luís showed a drop from 2017 and Greater Vitória had below average growth from 2017.

The records score cases of people assaulted by crowds, but does not provide an assessment of how many people died as a result of the assaults. According to the study, it is impossible to know how many people died because many probably died on the way to hospital. But the study was able to conclude that at least 26% of the cases studied resulted in death.

“The number of lynching cases found in news reports should not be confused with the actual number of cases that occurred, which is probably much higher”, says an excerpt from the study.

Motivation

Among the main reasons for lynchings, the study shows that crimes against property correspond to 70% of the cases, such as robberies, thefts and swindling. Only 15% of the reports concern crimes against the person or social dignity.

In the 11-year period of the research, 90% of lynchings in cases of crimes against property were due to robbery. Thus, 219 people were lynched in Manaus, 79 in Greater São Luís and 88 in Greater Vitória.

“Accusations of homicide and robbery do not exceed 5% of the recorded cases”, points out the study.

According to the research, between 1980 and 1990, most lynchings in Brazil came from accusations of crimes against the person and sexual crimes. This number is not the same observed among the years researched. According to the survey, sexual crimes represent less than 15% of the reasons for lynching in the three regions.

As the second largest reason for lynchings, aggression due to sexual crimes represent 6.96% of the cases in Manaus, in Greater São Luís, 8.47%, and in Greater Vitória, 13.14% of the registered cases. The number is almost six times lower compared to the main reason for the aggressions, which exceeds 70% of the cases in the three regions.

“Punishments are more lethal when crimes victimise an adult male”

says study.

As the study shows, the incidence of death of people lynched is higher when the victim in question is male. The survey shows that 30% of people lynched in Greater São Luís died when the victim was male, while in Manaus the figure is 15.79% and in Greater Vitória it is 25%.

When the victim is female, the data show that less than 4% of the people lynched in Greater Vitória died, while in Manaus (19.30%) and in Greater São Luís (22.73%) the figure is below 25%.

Black and indigenous peoples

The study points out that black or indigenous men are the main targets of lynching. “This is the same profile of most victims of homicide, police violence and incarceration in Brazil”, says the text, while criticizing the way in which newspapers not only ignore information from the profession, but also the citizenship of those assaulted.

The study shows a higher incidence of violence against black people. Unlike previous studies, with the internet and color images, heteroidentification became easier. “We are, therefore, facing a proportion of lynched white people up to five times lower than their presence in the population […]”, says an excerpt of the work.

“In any case, if racism, because it is a fundamental element of the Brazilian social formation, already deserved greater attention from previous studies, our data convert it into an inescapable racial issue”, says the research.