Feminicides in Porto Alegre: How many? Who are they?

To quantify and typify the feminicides occurred in the city of Porto Alegre from 2006 to 2010.

Cross-sectional study that examines the sociodemographic characteristics of victims and perpetrators and the circumstances of feminicides obtained in police investigations of women murdered in the city of Porto Alegre. Statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS software, version 20.0, with the χ2 test; p <0.05 was considered as significant.

Of the 89 surveys analyzed, we categorized 64 deaths (72%) as feminicides. Most victims were young, poorly educated and exercised socially undervalued occupations. They had a history of violence perpetrated by an intimate partner and one quarter of them had registered a police report.

These data indicate the magnitude of this crime and the need to identify risk situations and prevent lethal outcomes.