Justice in Mexico contributes to the 2013 Mexico Peace Index Report

Justice in Mexico’s David Shirk and Octavio Rodriguez contributed to the 2013 Mexico Peace Index Report, with the article “Understanding Mexico’s Criminal Violence.” According to Shirk and Rodriguez, Mexico’s security situation has taken an enormous toll on society. For the tens of thousands who have died in the recent wave of violence, there are hundreds of thousands of family members who mourn them and millions more —friends, neighbours—who are left behind to deal with the aftermath. The researchers underscore the need to continue to monitor and measure Mexico’s progress toward its potential as a peaceful and prosperous nation

The Mexico Peace Index (MPI), produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), provides a comprehensive measure of the levels of peacefulness within Mexico from 2003 to 2012. It includes an analysis of the measures that make up the Index, as well as other socio-economic factors that are normally associated with peaceful societies. It also estimates the economic impact of violence and the economic benefits that would flow from increases in peace.

Amongst the most relevant findings for 2013 are:
■ Peace in Mexico has improved by 6 percent over the last twelve months as measured by the MPI score.
■ The most peaceful state is Campeche, which has a level of peace roughly comparable to that of the US states of Mississippi, New Mexico and Delaware.
■ The Eastern region is the most peaceful while the Northern region is the most violent.
■ 90 percent of survey respondents feel that the police are corrupt or extremely corrupt, 50 percentage points higher than the military and 30 percentage points higher than the global average.
■ There is a high level of under-reporting of crime in Mexico. According to the ENVIPE 2012 data, only 19 percent of robberies, 8 percent of fraud cases and 10 percent of extortion cases are reported.
■ The number of firearms being smuggled into Mexico has tripled over the last decade.
■ The justice efficiency indicator, which measures the yearly ratio of homicide convictions to total homicides, has kept deteriorating even while levels of organized crime and violent crime have been decreasing.
■ Many of the standard socio-economic correlates with crime are not significant in Mexico. When the drug war is partially factored out, multi-dimensional poverty and education become statistically significant.
■ Mexico has the highest potential to improve its peace of any country in the world when its positive peace measures are compared to its actual levels of violence.

Read the full report.

Visit the original website with interactive tools and maps.

Source:

“Mexico Peace Index.” Institute for Economics and Peace. November, 2013.