David A. Shirk
January 2010
Mexico closed the decade with an unprecedented level of violence, and a record number of drug-related killings in 2009. This raises serious concerns for the Mexican public, for policy makers, and for Mexico’s neighboring countries. This report provides an overview of the trends found in available data on drug-related killings in Mexico, and offers some brief observations about the causes of violence and the effectiveness of recent efforts to combat organized crime.
