GENERAL OVERVIEW OF LETHAL VIOLENCE IN BRAZIL AND BAHIA

Abstract

This article addresses the severe dissonance between the constitutional guarantee of the right to life and the persistent public safety crisis in Brazil, which has the state of Bahia as the country's epicenter of Intentional Violent Deaths (MVI). The objective is to outline a situational diagnosis of violent lethality, examining the geographical evolution of homicides, the victims' profile, and the impact of police lethality. Methodologically, it consists of a qualitative-quantitative, descriptive, and explanatory research, conducted through document analysis of official reports and statistical data published up to 2025. The results show that lethal violence is regionally concentrated in the North and Northeast, with a striking structural selectivity that disproportionately affects young, Black, and peripheral men, driven by faction disputes and a police model based on armed confrontation. It is concluded that there is an urgent and unavoidable need to reformulate public safety policies, moving away from a purely repressive rationale toward strategies grounded in intelligence, gun control, and the strengthening of criminal investigation, aiming to ensure human dignity and the right to life.