Homicides: Not all cut from the same cloth

INTERVIEW / Gláucio Ary Dillon Soares

The 63% drop in the number of traffic accident deaths recorded in the city of  São Paulo in a singe month since enacting the new zero alcohol tolerance for motorists has left us with one certainty: alcohol restrictions save lives. The data provided by São Paulo’s State Health Office have led the Public Security Office of the same state to announce the purchase of an additional 400 breath tests to test for drunk driving.

Aware of research carried out in a number of countries around the world that show that controlling alcohol leads not only to significant drops in traffic accidents but also to lowering homicides and suicides, among other forms of violence, sociologist Glaucio Ary Dillon Soares champions public policy that bases itself on data generated by many sources and with many variables.

Soares is launching the book (in Portuguese) Não Matarás (FGV editors) analyzing the homicide rate in different periods and in different countries taking into account indicators such as economic and social development, urbanization and migration. “The book takes on that favorite of intellectuals, to use poverty, destitution and inequality as explaining factor, that is, what we call macro-variables. The question I ask is, how far will this take us?” said the author.

Soares would like to see research being made that takes into account a number of empirical factors thought to be related to violence and believe that society ought to be involved in developing efficient violence prevention programs. “I am addicted to the notion that public policy saves lives,” said Soares, who conceived a traffic safety program Paz no Trânsito in Brazil’s capital, Brasilia that halved the number of traffic related deaths in four years.

In an exclusive interview to Comunidad Segura, Gláucio Soares comments on research that links deaths to alcohol consumption and stresses that more exhaustive research should be conducted before propounding crime and homicide theories that are not mere derivatives of social and economic theory. “Numbers are not just numbers to me, they have a face”, said Soares.

A few days into the new zero alcohol tolerance for motorists law recently enacted in Brazil has already shown results according to surveys of the main hospitals across the nation. What do you say to that?

Limits to alcohol intake have taken a number of guises: punishment dispensed after the fact, preventative measures such as the zero tolerance for motorists, and the banning alcohol sales in areas with high rates of accidents and criminality. Map based research carried out in places such as Diadema, in São Paulo, show that there is a very clear relation between the consumption of alcohol and drugs and interpersonal violence.

In places were the alcohol restrictions are used, there have been very positive results, not merely through lowering accident rates, but also with the sharp decrease in the homicide and suicide rate, such as took place in countries in Eastern Europe. And when these policies were abandoned, due to change in administrations, the rates rise up again.

Could you give us a few examples?

In Russia it is customary to drink-until-you-drop. When Gorbatchov enacted the zero-alcohol law all rates subsequently dropped, including that of health problems, especially for cirrhosis. When Boris Yeltsin, himself a drinker, took over and interrupted the policy all the rates were back on the upswing. The same took place in Brasília.

What happened in Brasília?

In the mid 90’s when the Buarque government supported the Paz no Trânsito (Traffic Peace) movement born of volunteers I recruited at the University of Brasília, UnB, and made it into public policy. The most important and controversial measure adopted was to use cameras to register speeding motorists. The average speed for drivers in town dropped from 85 to 60 km/h, and the traffic accident rate dropped sharply. The death rate per 10,000 vehicles was cut by half in 4 years: from above 11 it dropped to 5,5.

A lesson to be learned out of the experience in Brasília?

I began to understand the value of civilian mobilization. I became a believer in mobilizing civil society because it worked. I am addicted to the notion that public policy saves lives. Numbers are not just numbers to me, they have a face. In our campaigns we look for images that convey that meaning.

Is it difficult to mobilize people?

It is sometimes tiring to see that lack of results, especially in poor communities. It is complicated to mobilize people who have so little time to give us.

In your new book, Não Matarás (Thou Shalt not Kill) you discuss the relationship between homicides and indicators such as social and economic development, urbanization and migrations. How do violent deaths relate to (or not) to social and economic indicators?

These relations do not present a single standard. They will vary in how they use indicators in the equation, in the degree of intimacy of these relations. It is important more exhaustive research should be conducted before propounding crime and homicide theories that are not mere derivatives of social and economic theory.

Does development lower homicides?
 

If that were a fact, homicide rates ought to be dropping in Brazil over the past decades, since the nation has been developing. The poor are less poor, but violence has increased.

What are the biggest myths with respect to violence and security?

The most important myths in my opinion, are the notion that there is a theory that explains all crimes and violence satisfactorily, and the statement that the more weapons you have, the less crimes and violence.

And where can we establish connections?

Connections vary to a great degree among countries, regions, states, municipalities and neighborhoods, which shows there is a great influence of context. We still know very little as it is. We need to consider the theoretical integration of the data.

Is there a common thread to the homicide cases that can help us understand how they work, and one that will aid prevention?

Homicides are not all cut from the same cloth. Empirical evidence that is used in creating a theory to explain homicide is limited to the type of homicide being described, that is true both in theory and in practice.

Let me give you an example. From the point of view of prevention and repression, the knowledge gained by studying infanticide has little to contribute to the understanding homicides among drug traffickers. There is no single “homicide”. Each one has its actors, its victims, motivation and context.

Read Further:

(In Portuguese)

Conjuntura Criminal - Blog de Gláucio Soares

Translated by Lis Horta Moriconi