EXECUTIONS

28At the same time, the public interest in protecting itself againstcrime has been channeled into paying for private security services(watchmen, bullet-proof vehicles, electronic surveillance units, etc.), orinto vigilante justice, including lynchings and the resolution of privatedisputes without recourse to the state.Turning to our evaluation of media-reported homicides, we notethat the data analyzed here represent a significant portion of the homicidescommitted in 1999 in Brazil, in that they include all killings reported in theselected newspapers in eighteen of the twenty-seven units of Brazil. Thetotals are set forth in Table 01 and indicate that the media sources citedreport approximately thirty-nine homicides every day, or roughly 1,160per month.Table 01:Media-Reported Homicides, 1999Victims by Unit of the Brazilian FederationSão PauloRio de JaneiroPernambucoEspírito SantoBahiaParanáGoiásParaíbaMato GrossoSergipeMinas GeraisPiauíDistrito FederalTocantinsRoraimaRio Grande do NorteAmapáAcreTOTALFonte: MNDH DatabaseFrequency4,0701,9861,7571,4641,306547535456402240208205200161103102958013,917%29.24%14.27%12.62%10.52%9.38%3.93%3.84%3.28%2.89%1.72%1.49%1.47%1.44%1.16%0.74%0.73%0.68%0.57%100.00%31. Superior Tribunal de Justiça, A proteção internacional dos direitos humanos e o Brasil, (Brasília:Superior Tribunal de Justiça, 2000),106.