The Multiplier Effect of Homicides

Abstract

It deals with the multiplying effect of homicides, or more precisely, the capacity of this type of action to turn contagious. At this point, the discussion focuses on the formation of a contextual morality which begins to mediate internal interactions between members of social groups most targeted by police and vigilantes—young men in the periphery. The revelation in the daily life that homicides were being illegally carried out by police in neighborhoods of periphery, through death squads or in allegedly legal operations, contributed to the undermining of confidence in public safety and legal institutions in these neighborhoods and their ability to control homicidal behavior. Homicide becomes a self-help tool and a means of survival in these environments, initiating in these neighborhoods a process of self-extermination where youths kill their peers out of fear of being killed by them. In the killer’s justifications, the victim was often to blame for their murder, and they “deserved to die” because they disrespected local norms and values. Cycles of revenge followed could last years. Friends and relatives of the dead victim would respond to these actions in kind. The narratives defending homicides were consistent with the risks at stake in that environment.