The authors investigate geographical patterns of homicide in São Paulo, Brazil. The geography of crime in developing world cities has been an underresearched area in part because of the lack of good-quality, geocoded offence data. In the case of São Paulo the availability of a new digital police dataset has provided the opportunity to improve our understanding of its crime patterns. The authors report the testing of hypotheses about the spatial variation in homicide rates. This variation is explained by poverty, situational conditions determined by differences in land use, and processes that indicate links with the geography of drug markets and the availability of firearms.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AbramovayMCastroM GPinheiroL CLimaF SMartinelliC C, 2002Juventude, Violência e Vulnerabilidade Social na América Latina: Desafios para Políticas PúblicasUNESCO/BID, Brasília.
2.
AdornoS, 1996A Gestao Urbana do Medo e da Inseguranca: Violencia, Crime e Justica Penal na Sociedade Brasilieira Contemporanea Tese de livre docenia, Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciencias Humanas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo.
3.
AnselinL, 2005Exploring Spatial Data with GeoDaTM: A WorkbookDepartment of Geography, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, http://sal.uiuc.edu/.
4.
BaumerELauritsenJ LRosenfledRWrightR, 1998, “The influence of crack cocaine on robbery, burglary, and homicide rates: A cross-city, longitudinal analysis”Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency35316–340.
5.
BlackD, 1984, “Social control as a dependent variable”, in Toward a General Theory of Social Control Ed. BlackD (Academic Press, Orlando, FL) pp 1–26.
6.
BlauJ RBlauM P, 1982, “The cost of inequality: Metropolitan structure and criminal violence”American Sociological Review47114–129.
BromleyRDFNelsonA L, 2002, “Alcohol-related crime and disorder across urban space and time: Evidence from a British city”Geoforum33239–254.
9.
BrownsteinH HBaxiHGoldsteinPRyanP, 1992, “The relationships of drugs, drug trafficking and drug traffickers to homicide”Journal of Crime and Justice1525–44.
10.
BurtonJ RCullenF TEvansT DDunawayR G, 1994, “Reconsidering strain theory: Operationalization, rival theories and adult criminality”Journal of Quantitative Criminology35213–239.
11.
BuvinicMMorrisonAShifterM, 1999Violence in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Framework for ActionSustainable Development Department, Inter-American Development Bank, http://www.iadb.org/sds/doc/1073eng.pdf.
12.
CaldeiraTPR, 2000City of Walls: Crime, Segregation and Citizenship in São Paulo (University of California Press, Berkeley, CA).
CarneiroL P, 1999Determinantes do crime na America Latina: Rio de Janeiro e São Paulo research report, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo.
18.
CeccatoV, 2005, “Homicide in São Paulo, Brazil: Assessing spatial–temporal and weather variations”Journal of Environmental Psychology25249–360.
19.
CeccatoVHainingRSignorettaP, 2002, “Exploring crime statistics in Stockholm using spatial analysis tools”Annals of the Association of American Geographers2229–51.
20.
ChevignyP, 1999, “Defining the role of the police in Latina America”, in The (Un) rule of Law and the Underprivileged in Latin America Eds MendezJO'DonellGPinheiroP S (Notre Dame University Press, Notre Dame) pp 49–70.
21.
ChevignyP, 2003, “The populism of fear: Politics of crime in the Americas”Punishment and Society577–96.
22.
CohenJTitaG, 1999, “Diffusion in homicide: Exploring a general method for detecting spatial diffusion process”Journal of Quantitative Criminology15451–493.
23.
CohenL EFelsonM, 1979, “Social change and crime rate trends: A routine activity approach”American Sociological Review44588–608.
24.
CorzineJCorzineL HWhittH P, 1999, “Cultural and subcultural theories of homicide”, in Homicide: A Sourcebook of Social Research Eds SmithM DZahnM A (Sage, London) pp 42–58.
25.
CragliaMHainingR PSignorettaP, 2001, “Modelling high intensity crime areas in English cities”Urban Studies381921–1941.
26.
CragliaMHainingR PSignorettaP, 2005, “Modelling high-intensity crime areas: Comparing police perceptions with offence/offender data in Sheffield”Environment and Planning A37503–524.
27.
ExumM L, 2002, “The application and robustness of the rational choice perspective in the study of intoxicated and angry intentions to aggress”Criminology40933–966.
28.
FaganJ, 1990, “Intoxication and aggression”, in Crime and Justice: A Review of Research volume 13, Eds TonryMWilsonJ Q (University of Chicago Press, IL) pp 241–320.
29.
FarringtonDLoeberRSouthamer-LoeberM, 2003, “How can the relationship between race and violence be explained?”, in Violent Crime: Assessing Race and Ethnic Differences Ed. HawkinsD F (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge) pp 213–237.
30.
FelsonR B, 1993, “Predatory and dispute-related violence: A social interactionist approach”, in Routine Activity and Rational Choice Eds ClarkeR VFelsonM (Transaction Books, New Brunswick, NJ) pp 103–123.
31.
FelsonRMessnerS F, 1996, “To kill or not to kill? Lethal outcomes in injurious attacks”Criminology34519–545.
32.
FoxJ APiqueroA R, 2003, “Deadly demographics: Population characteristics and forecasting homicide trends”Crime and Delinquency49339–359.
33.
GartnerR, 1990, “The victims of homicide: A temporal and cross sectional comparison”American Sociological Review5592–106.
34.
GawryszewskiV PKahnTJorgeM, 2004Homicidios no Municipio de São Paulo: Integrando Informaçoes para Ampliar o Conhecimento do Problema (Secretaria de Estado da Segurança Pública, São Paulo).
35.
GoldsteinJ C, 1985, “The drugs–violence nexus: A tripartite conceptual framework”Journal of Drug Issues14493–506.
36.
GoldsteinJ CBrownsteinH HRyanP JBellucciP A, 1989, “Crack and homicide in New York City, 1988: A conceptually based event analysis”Contemporary Drug Problems16651–687.
37.
GSI/ILANUD/FIA-USP, 2002Pesquisa de Victimização 2002 e Availiação do PIAPS (GSI/ILANUD/FIA-USP, São Paulo).
38.
HainingR, 2003Spatial Data Analysis: Theory and Practice (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge).
39.
HeitmeyerWHaganJ (Eds), 2003International Handbook of Violence Research (Kluwer, Dordrecht).
40.
HojmanD, 2004, “Inequality, unemployment and crime in Latin American cities”Crime, Law and Social Change4133–51.
41.
IBGE, 2004Cadastro de Unidades DomiciliariesInstituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, http://www.ibge.gov.br.
42.
Inter-American Development Bank, 2000Development Beyond Economics: Economic and Social Progress in Latin America—2000 Report (Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD).
43.
KahnT, 2005, “Armas de fogo: Argumentos para o debate”, lecture notes, Secretaria de Segurança Pública de São Paulo, São Paulo.
44.
KahnTZaneticA, 2005, “O papel dos municipios na seguranca publica” working paper, Centre for Brazilian Studies, University of Oxford, Oxford, forthcoming.
45.
KilsztajnSRossbachACarmoNSugaharaLSouzaL B, 2002Vítimas Fatais da Violência e Mercados de Drogas na Região Metropolitana de São Paulo (LES/PUCSP, São Paulo).
46.
KilsztajnSCarmoNSugaharaLLopesE S, 2003Vítimas da Cor—Homicídios na Região Metropolitana de São Paulo, 2000 (LES/PUCSP, São Paulo).
47.
KornhauserR, 1978Social Sources of Delinquency (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL).
La FreeG, 1999, “A summary and review of cross-national comparative studies of homicide”, in Homicide: A Sourcebook of Social Research Eds SmithM DZahnM A (Sage, London) pp 125–145.
52.
LeeM RBankstonW B, 1999, “Political structure, economic inequality and homicide: A cross-sectional analysis”Deviant Behaviour: An Interdisciplinary Journal1927–55.
53.
LimaR S, 2002Conflitos Sociais e Criminalidade Urbana: Uma Analise dos Homicidios Cometidos no Municipio de São Paulo (Sicurezza, São Paulo).
MessnerS, 2003, “Understanding cross sectional variation in criminal violence”, in International Handbook of Violence Research Eds HeitmeyerWHaganJ (Kluwer, Dordrecht) pp 701–718.
56.
MessnerSAnselinL, 2004, “Spatial analysis of homicide with areal data”, in Spatially Integrated Social Science Eds GodchildMJanelleD (Oxford University Press, Oxford) pp 127–144.
57.
MessnerSRosenfeldR, 1999, “Social structure and homicide: Theory and research”, in Homicide: A Sourcebook of Social Research Eds SmithM DZahnM A (Sage, London) pp 27–41.
58.
MietheT DDrassK A, 1999, “Exploring the social context of instrumental and expressive homicides: An application of qualitative analysis”Journal of Quantitative Criminology151–21.
59.
MorenoffJ DSampsonR, 1997, “Violent crime and the spatial dynamics of neighbourhood transition: Chicago, 1970–1990”Social Forces7631–64.
60.
ParkerR N, 1993, “Alcohol and theories of homicide”, in Advances in Criminological Theory Eds AdlerFLauferW (Transaction Books, New Brunswick, NJ) pp 113–142.
61.
ParkerR NSmithM D, 1979, “Deterrence, poverty and type of homicide”American Journal of Sociology85614–624.
62.
RolnikR, 2001, “Territorial exclusion and violence: The case of the state of São Paulo Brazil”Geoforum32471–482.
63.
RossowI, 2001, “Alcohol and homicide: A cross-cultural comparison of the relationship in 14 European countries”Addiction177–92.
64.
SampsonR JWilsonW J, 1995, “Toward a theory of race, crime and urban inequality”, in Crime and Inequality Eds HaganJPetersonR D (Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA) pp 37–57.
65.
SassenS, 1991The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ).
66.
ShawC RMcKayH D, 1942Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL).
67.
SmithM DZahnM A (Eds), 1999Homicide: A Sourcebook of Social Research (Sage, London).
68.
SoaresL E, 1996, “Mapeamento da criminalidade letal”, in Violência e Política no Rio de Janeiro Ed. SoaresL E (Relume Dumará e ISER, Rio de Janeiro) pp 237.
WikströmP H, 1991Urban Crime, Criminals, and Victims: The Swedish Experience in an Anglo-American Comparative Perspective (Springer, Berlin).
71.
WilsonW J, 1987The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass and the Public Policy (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL).
72.
WolfgangM EFerracutiF, 1967The Subculture of Violence (Tavistock, London).
73.
YunesJZubarewT, 1999, “Mortalidad por causas violentas en adolescentes y jovenes: Un desafío para la region de las Americas”Revista Brasileira de Epidemiologia3102–171.
74.
ZaluarA, 2004Integração perversa: Pobreza e tráfico de drogas (Editora Fundaçao Getúlio Vargas, Rio de Janeiro).
