Misleading title, since killings by police have been routine for a long time in Brazil. Also routine is killing of police, along with a generally dysfunctional criminal justice system.

Some notes from the article:

• Sao Paulo suffers a high crime rate, but not as high as some other regions of Brazil.
• Sao Paulo police kill 1 of every 229 suspects they arrest (1 per 31, 575 in the US)
• 53% of Sao Paulo residents believe police who kill criminals should get no jail time
• A new reform in Sao Paulo is to ban Police from transporting wounded suspects to the hospital, since many have “died” en route.
• An organized crime network, PCC, has bounties on the police and have killed more than 100 police officers.
• The Nascimento case highlighted in this article is known about because it was filmed.
• One of the suspects killed during the Nascimento arrest had a PCC tattoo on his back.
• Note the arraignment proceedings described near the end of the article.

Is this situation part of a larger political economy, or

In Brazil, Killings by Police Become Routine
The killing of Paulo Nascimento by police in São Paulo has focused the attention of Brazilians on the large number of suspects who die at the hands of law enforcement.

Article copy here: 2013-07-12_WSJ_In Brazil Killings By Police Become Routine