Brazil

Coding decisions on gangs, unidentified armed groups, state forces, and more

Published on: 2 March 2023 | Last updated: 4 November 2024

Background on Violence in Brazil

The origins of criminal violence in Brazil are often attributed to the country’s rapid urbanization and the social inequalities brought with it....criminal organizations and police militias act in similar ways and are mostly indistinguishable from each other in cases where the source does not provide additional information such as the names of the groups, the presence of drugs (outside of Rio de Janeiro), or other identifying features.

Impacts on ACLED Methodological Decisions

Disorder in Brazil presents unique methodological challenges for ACLED coverage. These primarily concern the complex nature of Brazil’s conflict landscape, which involves continuously evolving groups and alliances incorporating both state and criminal actors....Additionally, large urban areas remain under the control of armed groups, limiting safe access to traditional journalists.

How does ACLED code certain actors in Brazil?

Brazil is amongst the few countries in which ACLED has chosen to capture certain forms of criminal violence because of their impact on territorial control and the stability of the state...of militia groups in Brazil, one of which being that they are opposed to drug trafficking.

However, according to a report from the Rio de Janeiro Public Prosecutor Office, as of October 2019, more than 180 localities in the State of Rio de Janeiro are controlled by so-called narcomílicias...

In other instances, the source material may be lacking even further in detail. Two actors may be coded in such cases, depending on the information available. The Unidentified Armed Group actor is used in such cases when an event involves an armed group or member of an armed group along with sophisticated weapons...

How are locations coded in Brazil?

ACLED provides up to three administrative divisions for each of its country datasets. Typically, these levels are based off of official administrative boundaries. In some cases, official boundaries may not exist for higher level divisions. In other cases, ACLED may forego including higher level divisions if they are deemed to be unuseful...Below are the administrative divisions included in the Brazil data. Map 1 illustrates the Admin 1 state boundaries.

Map 1: States of Brazil

Are there locations in Brazil coded below the city level?

Both Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo are subdivided into their constituent administrative ‘zones’...

Map 2: Zones of Rio de Janeiro

Map 3: Zones of São Paulo

How are events sourced for Brazil?

Each week, ACLED researchers review over 50 English and Portuguese language sources to code political violence and demonstrations across Brazil; a further four sources are reviewed on a bi-weekly to monthly interval given that they produce reports on a more sporadic basis.... as a source creates a more complete picture of violence in urban centers.

blog similarly produces images and videos of specific events within Rio de Janeiro, in addition to more in-depth analysis of factional disputes....coverage of inter-city shootings has given rise to citizen-led ‘new media’ solutions. The most popular of these, Onde Tem Tiroteio (OTT), is an app created to help locals in Rio de Janeiro track shootings in real-time, thus avoiding the crossfire.