MURDER AND DRUG TRAFFICKING SPATIAL DEPENDENCE

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4215/rm2020.e19019

Keywords:

Violence, Murder, Drug trafficking, Spatial analysis

Abstract

This paper analyzes the correlation between drug trafficking and homicides in the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais - Brazil, to identify the spatial relationship between these phenomena in the urban environment. Based on data from the police reports in the period of 2007 to 2016, the spatial patterns of these criminal typologies and their spatial association were evaluated. The data were grouped on a 500-meter square grid, showing the main hot spots for the two types of crimes, as well as their recurrence. To complement the analysis, an indicator was proposed based on the assumptions of Ousey and Lee (2002), who describe the pre-existing social conditions for the relationship between drug trafficking and homicides to be established. From the methodology adopted, it was possible to verify the spatial association between the two criminal classifications, as well as the tendency for clusters of cells with a high incidence of crimes to be formed. There was also an association between the empirical data and those regions of the city where the pre-existing social conditions that encourage the association between drug trafficking and homicides are present, reinforcing the idea that the illegal drug market is a contingent cause of lethal violence.

Keywords: Violence. Homicide, Drug Trafficking, Spatial Analysis, Spatial correlation.

Author Biographies

  • Antonio Hot Pereira de Faria, Pontificia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte (MG), Brasil

    outor em Geografia - Tratamento da Informação Espacial pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais (PUC-Minas). Mestre em Administração pela Faculdade de Estudos Administrativos de Minas Gerais (2012), possui graduação em Ciências Militares pela Academia de Polícia Militar de Minas Gerais (2007) e graduação em Química pela Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (2009). Oficial da Polícia Militar de Minas Gerais. Membro do Instituto Brasileiro de Segurança Pública (IBSP) e da Academia de Letras João Guimarães Rosa. Tem experiência profissional na área de Administração Pública, com ênfase em Segurança Pública, Operações de Controle de Distúrbios, Planejamento Operacional e Patrulhamento Tático. Experiência docente nas disciplinas de Análise Criminal e Metodologia científica. Produção acadêmica focada nos estudos de criminologia ambiental, análise espacial da distribuição de crimes, criminosos em série, perfil geográfico (geographic profiling), jornada para o crime (journey to crime), Hot Spots Patrol Strategy, Evidence-based policing.

  • Diego Filipe Cordeiro Alves, Pontificia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte (MG), Brasil

    Doutor em Geografia - Tratamento da Informação Espacial pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais (2016). Tem experiência na área de Geografia, com ênfase em Análise Espacial, Sistemas de Informações Geográficas (SIG), Geografia Urbana e Regional.

Downloads

Published

2020-10-13

Issue

Vol. 19 (2020)

Section

Artigos

License

Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following terms:

\
    \
  1. Authors retain the copyright and grant MERCATOR the right of first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which allows the sharing of the work with recognition of the authorship of the work and initial publication in this journal.
    2. \
  2. Authors are authorized to sign additional contracts separately, for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in this journal (e.g., publish in an institutional repository or as a book chapter), with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this journal.
    3. \
  3. Authors are allowed and encouraged to publish and distribute their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their personal page) at any point before or during the editorial process, as this can generate productive changes as well as increase the impact and citation of the published work (see The Effect of Free Access).
    4. \
  4. Authors are responsible for the content of the manuscript published in the journal.
    5. \