DEBATE DEBATE

Debate on the paper by Roberto Briceño-León

Debate sobre el artículo de Roberto Briceño-León

Luciana Scarlazzari Costa

Faculdade de Saúde Pública, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil. scarla@usp.br

The article follows a line of reasoning that is pleasant to read from beginning to end and demonstrates the theme's scope.

The proposal is to explain urban violence in Latin America. The author uses a sociological theoretical model with three levels of explanation: factors that originate violence, structural factors or those referring to long-lasting social processes that allow violent behaviors to be created; factors that foment violence, of cultural or situational factors with an immediate effect on behavior; and finally factors that facilitate violence, with a more individual nature and which facilitate the violent act.

As the basis for the theoretical model, Briceño-León uses both theoretical justifications and data from surveys. Since he presents some quantitative data, from the scientific point of view it would be interesting if some statistical tests were performed to demonstrate the relations that are discussed, such as the relationship between the urban population percentages and the homicide rates.

All use of indicators is known to involve some limitations, since they are summary measures, it is possible to conceive of studies with a multilevel methodology, which take into account the social, economic, cultural, and other indicators pertaining to the various levels or dimensions in order to test the hypotheses raised in the present article, as well as to verify the factors with the greatest weight or which make the greatest contribution to urban violence (expressed here as the homicide rate) in order to orient actions.

According to the article, individual factors or those that facilitate violence involve greater flexibility of action, but when acting on individuals there are forces representing the contextual factors of the society to which they belong. The question then is how much the violence rates are modified with measures like the public disarmament campaign now under way in Brazil.

An ecological-type study by Gawryszewski & Costa ¹ in the city of São Paulo used a multiple logistic regression analysis to show that the independent factors related to the homicide rate were income (with a negative correlation) and the proportion of adolescents from 15 to 17 years of age not attending school (with a positive correlation). These findings illustrate what the current author states, i.e., that violence is a problem that occurs with youth, and according to Gawryszewski & Costa ¹, with young people who are not in school!

Organized society needs to invest in citizens with social programs, education, medical care, and vocational training, but it also needs to look further. How can society provide education when the citizens' family structure is jeopardized, when citizens live in segregated urban areas with a weak state presence, lack of public lighting, recreation, and culture, and to top it off a limited job supply.

In order to modify society's structural factors, it is necessary to study their contribution to urban violence, or else one runs the risk of merely implementing isolated measures. The main challenge is identifying where and how to act to attempt to modify this panorama of urban violence in Latin America.

1. Gawryszewski VP, Costa LS. Homicídios e desigualdades sociais no Município de São Paulo. Rev Saúde Pública 2005; 39:191-7.