According to official data from the Mortality Information System (SIM / MS), the number of homicides in the State of Rio de Janeiro decreased 28.7% between 2006 and 2009. However, there is evidence that this variation is due to error on data classification. The number of fatal violent incidents of unknown cause in Rio de Janeiro has inexplicably increased since 2007, which is in the opposite direction of the national standard trend. Based on microdata of the victims' characteristics, we developed a multinomial logit model to reclassify deaths with undetermined cause, as homicides, suicides or fatal accidents. Our estimates indicated that the number of homicides in Rio de Janeiro, in this period, decreased only 3.6%, but the number of "hidden homicides" sharply increased representing 62.5% of the homicides registered in 2009.
Homicide; Suicide; Fatal accident; Rio de Janeiro; Impunity
