Homicides

Over the last several years, the accumulated toll of this violence has been the loss of tens of thousands of lives, and the problem has become a central preoccupation for both government officials and ordinary citizens.

Since 2007, the Justice in Mexico Project has conducted research to establish a better understanding of the patterns of crime and violence associated with drug trafficking and organized crime. The Project have been examining the problem of drug violence in substantial detail, drawing on over five years of data gathering and research, as well as the latest available data from a variety of sources.

While the terms “drug violence” and “drug-related homicides” are widely used in the media and in the popular understanding of Mexico’s recent security challenges, there is no formal definition of these concepts in Mexican criminal law, that has represented a methodological challenge. Thus, for the past several years, the Justice in Mexico Project has analyzed the specific kind of violence associated with “organized-crime groups,” or OCGs using several different sources of data, which we share below:

Organized Crime-Style Homicides

Database

Description

Period

Source

File

Ejecutometro

Organized crime-style homicides counted by newspaper Reforma and compiled by JMP.

2007-2012*

*Until November

Reforma

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Narco Ejecuciones

Organized crime-style homicides counted by newspaper Milenio and compiled by JMP

2007-2012

Milenio

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Defunciones por presunta rivalidad delincuencial

Organized crime-style homicides counted by the Mexican Government and compiled by JMP.

2011*

*Jan-Sep

SNSP

Not available

General Homicides

Database

Description

Period

Source

File

Defunciones por homicidio (Por municipio por año

Homicides, state and municipal level, per register year.

1990 – 2011

INEGI

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Homicidios y arma usada / Por Municipio por Mes

Homicides and weapon used, municipal level, per month

2011 – 2012*

*Until Oct.

SNSP

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Homicidios por Estado por Mes

Homicides at the state level, per month.

1997-2012*

*Until Oct.

SNSP

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Intentional homicides (Americas)

Intentional homicide, count and rate per 100,000 population

1995 – 2011

UNODC

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