Female Homicide and the COVID-19 Pandemic in a State of the Northeast Region of Brazil

• Author: Emylle T. M. dos Santos,Conceição M. de Oliveira,Betise M. A. S. M. Furtado,Heitor V. V. da Costa,Cristine V. do Bonfim
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10887679221108872
• Published date: 01 November 2022
• Date: 01 November 2022
• Subject Matter: Special Issue Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/10887679221108872

Homicide Studies

2022, Vol. 26(4) 403 –418

© 2022 SAGE Publications

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DOI: 10.1177/10887679221108872

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Special Issue Article

Female Homicide and the

COVID-19 Pandemic in a

State of the Northeast Region

of Brazil

Emylle T. M. dos Santos¹ , Conceição M. de Oliveira²,

Betise M. A. S. M. Furtado³, Heitor V. V. da Costa1, and

Cristine V. do Bonfim1,4

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the time series

of female homicides in the state of Pernambuco, Northeast of Brazil. Microdata on

lethal violent crimes from the Department of Social Defense from 2015 to 2020

was used. The homicide rates were analyzed using joinpoint regression models. The

results showed an upward trend in homicide rates in the Sertão mesoregion and

within the 20 to 39 age group in 2020. It is concluded that confinement and social

distancing aggravated the violence against women, showing the need for intersectoral

planning and measures to prevent and reduce female homicides.

Keywords

homicide, violence against women, intimate partner, COVID-19, trends

Introduction

Violence against women can occur in different ways, with different degrees of severity

and is not an isolated occurrence; it is part of a series of increasing episodes (Leite et al.,

2019). The homicide is the ultimate expression of violence in the patriarchal regime, in

1Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil

2Secretaria de Saúde do Recife, Brazil

3Universidade de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil

4Fundação Joaquim Nabuco, Recife, Brazil

Corresponding Author:

Emylle T. M. dos Santos, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Saúde Coletiva, Universidade Federal de

Pernambuco, Rua Sérgio Higino, 54, Riacho do Navio, Recife, Pernambuco, CEP: 55500-000, Brazil.

Email: emylle.saantos@hotmail.com

1108872HSXXXX10.1177/10887679221108872Homicide StudiesSantos et al.

research-article2022

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which women are subject to the control of men who are part of their daily lives (Gomes,

2018; Iratzoqui & McCutcheon, 2018). Most causes of female homicides are not related

to the pathological conditions of the perpetrators, rather to the women’s desire for pos-

session (Bejarano Celaya, 2014; Meneghel & Portella, 2017).

In 2017, there were 87,000 female homicides, with an estimated global rate of

2.3/100,000 women (United Nations, 2019). Approximately 58% of these women

were killed by a family member, in other words, 137 women are killed every day by

their intimate partners or by family members (United Nations, 2019). In Brazil, the

female homicide rate in 2018 was 4.3/100,000 women, showing a 9.3% decrease when

compared to the previous year (Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada [IPEA],

2020). In Pernambuco, the rate was 4.9/100,000 women, higher than what was found

in Brazil and among the states with the highest rates (IPEA, 2020). Female homicides

are more frequent in places with greater social vulnerability, where there is a high

occurrence of interpersonal violence, involvement with drug trafficking, alcohol use,

poverty, among others (Justino et al., 2021; Meira et al., 2019).

Studies acknowledge that major disasters, whether natural (earthquakes, hurri-

canes), environmental (dam failures, oil spills), epidemics (Ebola, Zyka), or those

caused by man (shootings), exacerbate factors related to behaviors that victimize

women and consequently increase the numbers of violence (Nigam, 2020; Peterman

et al., 2020).

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak caused by the new Severe Acute Respiratory

Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged between late 2019 and early 2020

in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China (Lai et al., 2020; Singhal, 2020). With great poten-

tial for the dissemination of the disease and migration during the Chinese New Year,

the epidemic grew, bringing several impacts in various regions of the world (Freitas

et al., 2020).

In Brazil, the first case was confirmed on February 26, 2020. The patient had a

recent travel history to Italy. In Pernambuco, responses to the pandemic were given

quickly after the confirmation of the first two imported cases of COVID-19 reported

on March 12 (W. V. Souza et al., 2020). Several decrees were published during the

month of March and in subsequent months, with social distancing measures of various

natures (W. V. Souza et al., 2020). Many countries adopted strategies aiming to slow

down the spread of the disease, among them, social isolation and quarantine (Aquino

et al., 2020; Kraemer et al., 2020; Person et al., 2021).

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the new coronavirus, SARS–CoV-2, brought

with it several consequences to the lives of the women who were already suffering

from domestic violence (Campbell, 2020; Usher et al., 2020). Considering that most

cases of violence occur in the domestic environment, social distancing is configured

as a threat to women, increasing the exposure to those who were already living in

abusive relationships (Anurudran et al., 2020; Mazza et al., 2020). Restricted access to

victim support services during this period is also an aspect that should be noted (de Paz

et al., 2020). In addition to the decrease in police interventions, the limitation of health

services, and the courts being closed resulted in a difficulty to report violence cases

and contributed to impunity (John et al., 2020; Machado-Rios et al., 2020).