EXECUTIONS

103victims of homicides, it is equally important to have profiles of theperpetrators of such crimes. This information facilitates the proposal anddevelopment of more complete strategies that may help reduce theelevated numbers of homicides in Brazilian society.Finally, the fifth part provides a descriptive synthesis of eachincident and includes: important declarations/statements regarding theincident, explanations for differences in information given by differentnewspapers, person(s) responsible for police action, lists of witnesses,addresses of the victims and suspects, and investigators' observations.SourcesWe chose print media as the primary source for this investigationand the substance of the database because it is available in all states and hasset the standard for reporting homicidal crimes. The criteria used tochoose which newspapers to include were: daily circulation and consistentreporting on violence/homicides.This decision was based on the fact that official sources are ofteninaccessible in many Brazilian states, do not represent the nationalstandard for reporting on homicidal crimes, and do not providesynthesized information on criminal suspects.MethodologyResearchers distributed among the twenty-seven states work dailyto maintain and update the database, following the guidelines establishedby the Procedural Manual and the Table of Codes.Data Collection ProcedureA researcher responsible for the collection and input of data isassigned to each one of the twenty-seven research centers. Various centersemploy a second researcher to verify the research submitted by the firstresearcher. The data collected in each center is periodically sent via email tothe MNDH headquarters in Brasilia, which hosts the database.