This meant that, while the overall figure for homicide in Rio has gone down, the number of police victims has risen since the reward was introduced. Because Wagner lived, and his case was taken up by a well known lawyer, his fate attracted media attention. Most other police victims remain anonymous. In Brazil, demands for justice usually depend not on who carried out the violence, but who the victim is. Favelados , or shantytown dwellers, constitute one such group.
Prisoners are another.
When the military police were called to quell a riot at S o Paulo's Carandiru prison in October 1992, they decided to teach them a lesson. They killed 111 unarmed prisoners, many of them shot as they cowered in their cells pleading for their lives. Opinion polls showed that a majority of the population approved. Although many have TB and other infectious diseases, medical attention is almost non-existent. Bloody and brutal riots and break-out attempts happen almost every day.