Gender, race, social inequalities, and territory as factors related to child homicides in Brazil: an ecological analysis from 2014 to 2018

Abstract

The article aims to analyze the homicides of Brazilian children aged 0 to 14 years from 2014 to 2018. The methodology included an ecological time series study, in which child murders were analyzed according to the following variables: region, state, age, sex, race/color, place of death, causes of death, human development index (HDI) and Gini coefficient. Data analysis was performed using SPSS® and QGIS software. As a result, we point out that the proportional homicide rate among children aged 0 to 14 in Brazil is 2.07 homicides per
100,000 children, with higher rates in the North region (3.02/100,000), in the state of Roraima (19.34 /100,000) and Indigenous race/ethnicity (15.68/100,000). Regarding the causes of homicide, the most prevalent was the shooting of firearms (58.84%). The results also show that the male homicide rate, in addition to its correlations with the rate by state, showed a very strong association with age with 86% for the age group from 10 to 14 years (p<0.001; rs=0.928). It also showed a strong correlation with mixed race/color, 80% (p<0.001; rs=0.893), and a moderate correlation of 43% with the Gini index (p<0.001; rs=0.658). Conclusion: Male gender, mixed race, states in the North, Northeast and Central­West regions and higher values in the Gini index appear as factors of association with higher child homicide rates in Brazil, confirming the country's inequality issues as greater risks to life.