EXECUTIONS

13recent years demonstrate that these groups almost always include one ormore former or current police officer and, even when they do not,frequently rely on the informal support of the police. Similarly, not allcases of homicide committed by the police may fairly be characterized asextrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. Yet, there can be littledoubt that a very high percentage of these killings must be so classified. Inthis regard, São Paulo provides an interesting case study.A study by the Police Ombudsman (Ouvidoria da Polícia) for theState of São Paulo reviewed the autopsy reports and accompanyinginformation for 222 persons killed by police during 1999 (one third of thetotal number of victims of homicide by police during the year of ourstudy). The Ombudsman concluded that 52.6% of the victims had beenshot from behind; 23% had been shot five or more times and nearly 36%of the victims had been shot in the head. These results suggest thatmanyone may conclude the majorityhad been executed and not killedduring legitimate gun battles using appropriate force, as authoritiesroutinely allege. To estimate the proportion of executions nationally, let ususe 50% as a rough estimate of the percentage of police killings that shouldbe classified as extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.In sum, in the first six months of 1999, the São Paulo police killed489 civilians, or one person every nine hours. If we use 50% as thepercentage of killings by police that should be classified as executions, inthe State of São Paulo alone, the total would reach approximately 500victims for the police alone. If we apply this percentage to the projectedtotal number of killings by police and death squads, the total number ofexecutions for 1999 would be 1,920.The report not only includes figures that allow for estimations ofthe gravity of the problem in global terms, but also analyzes available datato profile how, when, why, by whom and against whom these homicidesare committed. This analysis focuses specifically on homicides withcharacteristics of extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. In mediareportedcases of homicides committed by police and death squads, forexample, one sees that 81.79 percent were attributed to the policecompared with16.90 percent for death squads. Focusing on the victimsone sees that while women comprise 10.34 percent of homicide victims