Almost 10,000 inquiries into the deaths of children and teenagers up to 17 years old remain without any conclusion at the police stations in the state of Rio de Janeiro, according to an unprecedented survey carried out by the state’s Public Defender’s Office.
Of the 9,542 investigations open in Rio de Janeiro since 2000, almost 80% (79.5%) are related to intentional crimes, that is, when there is an intention to kill.
The study reveals that investigations related to death or attempted homicide against children take, on average, eight years and three months to be completed. The estimate was based on data from the Civil Police and the Public Security Institute. The shortest processing time registered in the state is 36 days and the longest, 21 years.
TO CNN Public defender Rodrigo Azambuja, coordinator of the Childhood and Youth Center, explains that the slowness in completing the investigations generates even more painful consequences for the victims’ families.
“It is what we call the right to Memory, Truth and Justice. When talking to families in hearings, they highlight the need to know exactly what happened to the son/sibling, to at least try to move forward. When situations are not clarified, people have an even greater difficulty in mourning. Many parents tell us that they just wanted to know who committed the crime and that the murderer be held accountable to justice”, says Azambuja.
The survey estimates, when comparing the data, that 8 out of 10 procedures against the lives of children are still open in Rio. In 2014 the largest number of inquiries still without an outcome was registered, 812 in total, 80% of which were malicious.
This year, 212 crimes committed against children and adolescents have not yet been investigated. Of those, 73% were intended to kill.
Firearm projectiles are the main cause of intentional murders committed or attempted against the lives of children, representing about 62% of them, which remain open.
More than three thousand children were shot dead and the families still don’t have the conclusion of the case. Of the victims under the age of 17 who died intentionally shot by firearm, 75% were black.
Next, police activity, such as intervention or acts of resistance to intervention, represents 10.7% of intentional homicides.
The motive for the crimes, however, changes in each age group. In the group of up to 4 years old, for example, involuntary homicides, with no intention of killing, are the most expressive, with 389 open cases. Meanwhile, the age group from 12 to 17 years old is significantly marked by the record of intentional crimes as a result of shooting.
Of all open investigations, about a third are registered in the Rio de Janeiro capital. Then comes the municipality of Campos dos Goytacazes, Nova Iguaçu and São Gonçalo.
The director of Studies and Research on Access to Justice, Carolina Haber, who coordinated the survey, highlights that with the drop in the circulation of weapons, the number of child deaths would be lower.
“After analyzing the databases, it is clear that the cause of lethality varies according to age. It is necessary to invest to reduce the circulation of firearms, the biggest killer of teenagers, and in safe vehicle traffic strategies, the biggest killer of children,” says Haber.
There is already a state law that determines the priority of investigation in crimes committed against children and adolescents, called the Ághata Félix Law, enacted in January of this year. Ághata was murdered at the age of eight by a rifle shot, during a police operation in Complexo do Alemão, in 2019.
Public defender Rodrigo Azambuja points out that the Ághata law is not being effectively put into practice.
“Our assessment is that this law is not being carried out satisfactorily or rigorously. For us, the most important thing is to fight child crimes and this law is careful not to typify the death of this age group. This is because the homicide may not be heinous, but it still deserves priority, because it is a child”, says Azambuja.
This weekend, it completed one year of the death of the girls Emilly, 4 years old, and Rebeca, 7 years old. The two cousins were shot while playing outside their house, in Duque de Caxias, Baixada Fluminense.
The girls’ family, so far, has not concluded the case. Nine months ago, the police carried out a mock reproduction to try to find out where the shots came from, but the report has not yet been disclosed to family members.
“The family and the Public Defender’s Office made every effort to contribute to the autonomous and independent investigation, seeking to clarify what happened that night. So far, we have not heard of the completion of the mock reproduction report. We officiate the police authority and await the conclusion of the investigation so that the family finally has an answer”, highlights the defender Carla Viana, from the Nucleus for the Defense of Human Rights (Nudedh).
A CNN questioned the Civil Police about the case and is awaiting a response.
Reference: CNN Brasil
