Homicide in Puerto Rico

Sheila M. Kiger

SOC-291

Sept. 2011

Homicide in Puerto Rico

Table of Contents

Abstract 3

History 4

Comparison of violent crime in Puerto Rico and the mainland 5

Comparison of Homicide Rates Between Puerto Rico and the Mainland 6

Figure 1 7

Lethality of Aggravated Assault in Puerto Rico and the Mainland 7

Possible Causes for High Lethality of Aggravated Assault in Puerto Rico 8
Gangs 10
Sudden murder rise in 2011 11
Conclusion 11
References 12

Abstract

The specific aims of this paper are to (a) compare rates and trends of homicide between Puerto Rico and the mainland during 1980-2005 and (b) explore possible reasons for differences in homicide rates and trends between Puerto Rico and the mainland. History

Puerto Rico is one of the jurisdictions of the United States with the highest levels of violent crime. Although it is an autonomous territory, Puerto Rico is under the direct jurisdiction of the federal government. The island has legal and political institutions and practices that are very similar to those on the mainland. This is no coincidence, as many of them

References: United States (Gould, Weinberg, & Mustard, 2002; Mocan & Rees, 2005; PetersonKrivo, & Hagan, 2006; Wilson & Petersilia, 1995). As a result, we have a poor understanding of violent crime in one of the presumably deadliest places of the (b) violent crime. Puerto Rico was the poorest region of the United States during the 20th century (Lefort, 2000) (Valdés, Caram, & Godoy, 2006). Partly in response to chronically high unemployment (Rivera-Batiz & Santiago, 1996) and persistent poverty, Puerto Rico has received commensurate federal transfers during the 20th century (Collins, Bosworth, & Soto-Class, 2006) drug trafficking during the 1980s (Montalvo-Barbot, 1997) might lead one to expect more violent crime in Puerto Rico than on the mainland In sum, the trend on the mainland of improvements in most types of violent crimes starting in the early 1990s (Levitt, 2004; Zimring, 2006) can also be seen in Puerto Rico with the decline of aggravated assault, robbery, and rape. For all these crimes, and for others not discussed here (e.g., youth violence; Vélez, 2003), Puerto Hirsch, 2002). All else held constant, one expects the same number of deaths to result from the same number of aggravated assaults across regions (Boyum et al., 1996). 1980-1990, the average lethality ratio in Puerto Rico reached 0.06/year but during the next 15 years (1991-2005) it almost tripled to 0.16/year Contrary to what some policy makers in Puerto Rico say (Goodnough, 2003), these statistics suggests that Puerto Rico does not face a shortage of police compared to We lack hard evidence on variables likely to affect the emergency response time of police in Puerto Rico, but Rosa (2005) suggests that the police in Puerto Rico may