TY - JOUR PY - 2024// TI - Drugs, crime, and racial disparities in the homeless population gathered from a sample of police reports: evidence from Brazil JO - Forensic science international A1 - Lopes, Alan Bazalha A1 - Nobre, Manoel Jorge SP - e112123 EP - e112123 VL - 361 IS - N2 - Brazil is one of the most unequal democracies in the world. Although the number of homeless individuals in our country has increased due to the reproduction of people living in extreme poverty, little has been discussed about their welfare and rights. In the present study, we provide analysis with a theoretical-methodological approach directed at homeless people living in the wealthy neoliberal middle-sized southeast city of São Paulo, Brazil's richest state. Data was acquired from police reports with prior permission from the Civil Police of São Paulo and the São Paulo Interior Judiciary Police Department. Our results illustrate that the homelessness phenomenon in Franca appears to be comparable to that of other large urban cities, where Blacks, a minority of the population, make up the bulk of homeless individuals. It also denies that homeless activity increases criminality, emphasizes the difference between Blacks and Whites drug users' criminal behavior, with Whites being more active in theft and robbery and Blacks in trafficking, and extends the idea that drug use by homeless people is stress-related and hence an indicator of a health condition.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0379-0738 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2024.112123 ID - ref1 ER -