Crime in Brazil Is Not As Bad As the Statistics Indicate

Brazil does not have a death penalty. Brazil has acities in Brazil. Outside of the inner cities, Brazil is
liberal juvenile justice system that seems far toopretty much the safest place on earth, with an
lenient on youthful offenders. These factors haveoutlandishly low crime rate. By comparison the
contributed to the high level of crime in Brazil.USA is far more dangerous than Brazil.
There is a considerable amount of freedom inThere is one other exception to this low crime
Brazil. Freedom, as opposed to totalitarian policerate in Brazil. The popular tourist attractions and
states, has its price in increased criminalbeaches do have some criminals taking advantage
opportunities for the criminal element of society.of tourists. These crimes tend to be
Illegal drug activity has increased in recent yearspick-pocketing, purse snatching, camera snatching,
in Brazil. There are gang wars, and turf battlesand similar crimes. Even Vatican City has such
over the drug territories, and some innocentpick-pockets working the tourists there too. This
bystanders are killed in some of the battles.is an unfortunate fact of life worldwide in every
Fortunately the majority of these drug relatedtourist hotspot on earth. Savoy tourists can
crimes are contained in the poorer sections of theusually avoid being victimized by these petty
largest cities in Brazil. If you are not dealing drugs,criminals.
and not spending time in the high crime inner citiesDo not flash expensive items such as
in Brazil, then you are in much less danger ofcamcorders, cameras, and notebook computers.
becoming the victim of a crime that you would beThe red light districts (AMOR à ZONA) should
in any place in the USA.be avoided. The slums (favelas) are high crime
Actual Crime Rates in Brazil compared to the USAareas. ATM machines tend to attract robbers.
and JapanThieves work the beaches looking for purses and
An analysis was done using INTERPOL data forwallets lying near sunbathers. They grab the purse
Brazil. For purpose of comparison, data wereor wallet and run. Solution: Do not leave your
drawn for the seven offenses used to computepurse or wallet in view. Dress down. Try to look
the United States FBI's index of crime. Indexnative. Do not stand out.
offenses include murder, forcible rape, robbery,A word of warning about the Brazilian petty
aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, and motorcriminals and their methods.
vehicle theft. The combined total of thesePetty thieves commonly work the public
offenses constitutes the Index used for trendtransportation system looking for tourists. They
calculation purposes. Brazil will be compared withride the public transportation system (mostly
Japan (country with a low crime rate) and USAbusses) looking to identify a target, usually with a
(country with a high crime rate). The followingpurse or expensive camera in easy view. They
figures are per 100,000 population.will wait until the bus is stopping and opening the
Offense: Rape, the rate in 2001 was 8.50 fordoors, then they grab the item and jump off the
Brazil, compared with 1.78 for Japan and 31.77 forbus. Lately they have been grabbing whole
USA.backpacks, when the tourist is so foolish as to
Offense: Aggravated assault, the rate in 2001take off his/her backpack on the bus. Solution: Be
was 0.61 for Brazil, 23.78 for Japan, and 318.55especially careful on the busses in Brazil. Do not
for USA.take off your backpack. Do not make it easy for
Offense: Larceny for 2001 was 309.91 for Brazil,the thieves to grab your valuables and run.
1401.26 for Japan, and 2484.64 for USA.Fortunately it is incredibly rare for these petty
Offense: Motor vehicle theft in 2001 was 88.51criminals to become violent. They almost always
for Brazil, compared with 44.28 for Japan andrun away no matter if they are successful or not
430.64 for USA.in the purse snatching attempt. They run not
The rate for all index offenses combined wasbecause they are afraid of the tourist, but
927.41 for Brazil, compared with 1709.88 forbecause they are afraid of a mob or the police
Japan and 4160.51 for USA.catching them. However, you should NOT chase a
Source:purse snatcher. They are often armed. The inner
A Comparative Criminology Tour of the Worldcity criminals in Brazil are especially afraid of the
Dr. Robert u.educops. The police in Brazil are almost as trigger
San Diego State Universityhappy as cops in the USA. Fortunately they seem
Japan is considered one of the safest countries onto know the difference between tourists and the
earth, with a very low crime rate, however Japanstreet criminals.
has almost twice as much crime overall as Brazil.In summary, you are far more likely to have
The USA has over 400% more overall crimeyour wallet or purse stolen in any city in the USA
than Brazil. However, these statistics are skewedthan in even the tourist areas of Brazil. If you
and misleading. Brazil's crime is much localized,stay away from the inner cities and especially the
almost exclusively limited to the large inner cities.favelas and if you do not deal drugs or buy illegal
The crime rate in the rest of Brazil is comparabledrugs you will be far safer in Brazil than in the
to the crime rate in Vatican City. In the ruralUSA, Canada, or even Japan. There is no need to
areas of Brazil, hitchhiking is still common withbe afraid of crime in Brazil. Come on, live a little.
very few criminal incidents. Even crimes againstThe sky is not falling down, and Brazil is not so
property are almost unheard of outside the largedangerous if you just use common sense.