Brasília, November 14, 2002 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The National secretary for Law Enforcement, José Vicente da Silva Filho, released a balance sheet on violence in the country today, comparing the first semester this year to the same period in 2001. According to him, there occurred a 27% increase in violent deaths in 19 state capitals and the Federal District. Seven state capitals did not furnish statistical data that would permit a comparison.

9,667 deaths were registered between January and June, 2001, as against 10,046 in the first half of 2002. In absolute numbers, São Paulo is still the most violent city, with 3,232 deaths, even though this result is 4.15% inferior to the 3,372 cases in the first half of 2001.

Silva Filho added that, since seven capitals did not furnish data, the real number of violent deaths "is certainly higher." Moreover, "the data we are supplied are faulty, for lack of adequate systems of collection. For this reason we reaffirm the need to create a data bank that gives these statistics greater credibility." (DAS)

The number of violent deaths in Rio de Janeiro, on the other hand, rose 12.79%, from 2,056 cases in 2001 to 2,319 this year.