Reports

 Report

 Description

 Authors

The Way of the Gun: Estimating Firearms Traffic Across the U.S.-Mexico Border (Mar. 2013) 

“The Way of the Gun” is a co-authored report that uses a unique econometric approach to estimate the demand for firearms in Mexico by examining the distribution of retail gun distributors throughout the United States. Based on the heavy concentration of gun dealers along the border, the authors are able to estimate a total demand for trafficking across the border, both in terms of firearms and dollar sales for the firearms industry.

Topher McDougal, David A. Shirk, Robert Muggah, and John Patterson

Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis Through 2012

(Feb. 2013)

This is the fourth of a series of reports that the Justice in Mexico Project has put together each year to compile the latest available data and analysis to evaluate these challenges. These reports have been especially intended to inform a U.S. audience, since news media coverage of Mexico in the United States tends to be fleeting and gravitates toward sporadic, sensationalistic incidents, rather than broader and longer term trends.

Cory Molzahn, Octavio Rodríguez Ferreira and David A. Shirk

Armed With Impunity: Curbing Military Human Rights Abuses in Mexico (Jul. 2012)

The Mexican military has played a constantly expanding role in efforts to combat drug trafficking organizations, and to provide domestic security more generally. But the massive deployment of troops increased civilian exposure and vulnerability to abuses by military personnel. This report examines Mexico’s current security context, presents original data and analysis on military human abuses, and discusses possible remedies to protect against such abuses in the future.

Catherine Daly, Kimberly Heinle, and David A. Shirk

Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis Through 2011 (Mar. 2012)

In the third annual special report on drug violence in Mexico, the authors found that, by the end of 2011, there were over 50,000 organized crime murders in Mexico documented by Mexican government and media sources. Such violence grew less sharply in 2011 than in the previous year, but now causes over half of all homicides and has spread to new states and municipalities throughout Mexico.

Cory Molzahn, Viridiana Ríos and David A. Shirk

A Comprehensive Assessment of the Municipal Police of Ciudad Juárez (Sep. 2011)

The Justiciabarómetro survey of Ciudad Juárez builds on the findings of a similar study conducted one year earlier in Guadalajara. This study surveyed 75% of the 3,146 municipal police officers serving the roughly 1.3 million inhabitants of Ciudad Juárez. To view the full report in Spanish click here.

Marcos Pablo Moloeznik, Maria Eugenia Suárez de Garay, and David A. Shirk 

Assessing Judicial Reform. Views of Judges, Prosecutors, and Public Defenders (Jun. 2011)

This report highlights the findings of the Justiciabarómetro survey of judges, prosecutors, and public defenders working in Mexico’s criminal justice system from October to December 2010. It summarizes respondants’ attitudes regarding the workings of the Mexican criminal justice system, as well as the sweeping judicial reforms approved by Mexico’s Congress in 2008.

Matthew C. Ingram, Octavio Rodríguez Ferreira, and David A. Shirk

Justiciabarómetro: Survey of Judges, Prosecutors, and Public Defenders in Nine Mexican States (Jun. 2011)

The Justiciabarómetro survey is a ground-breaking study of Mexican judges, prosecutors, and public defenders working in the country’s criminal justice system. The survey examines respondents’ demographic profile, professional background, and attitudes toward a wide variety of issues pertaining to the administration of justice in Mexico. This full report provides an overview of the survey’s findings on a range of questions.

Matthew C. Ingram, Octavio Rodríguez Ferreira, and David A. Shirk

Drug Violence in Mexico. Data and Analysis Through 2010 (Feb. 2011)

In the second annual special report on drug violence in Mexico, the authors found that 2010 was the worst year on record for such violence, and was marked a sharp increase in politically targeted violence that included numerous assassinations and kidnappings of public officials. The violence became so severe that officials in Mexico and the United States  expressed uncertainty about the Mexican state’s ability to withstand the effects of this violence.

Viridiana Ríos and David A. Shirk

Judicial Reform in Mexico. Toward a New Criminal Justice System (May 2010)

Mexico has been gradually implementing a series of reforms that will dramatically improve public security and the administration of justice over the next decade. Thus, procedural reforms targeting the judicial sector are, at best, a long-term solution to the problems of crime and violence that have motivated them. Careful analysis is therefore needed to evaluate what judicial reformers hope to accomplish, and what can be achieved realistically in the near term future.

Matthew C. Ingram and David A. Shirk

Drug Violence in Mexico. Data and Analysis from 2001-2009 (Jan. 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.

David A. Shirk

Justiciabarómetro: Encuesta a operadores del sistema penal (Zona Metropolitana de Guadalajara) (Dec. 2009) 

In December, the Justice in Mexico Project released the results of a groundbreaking survey titled Justiciabarómetro: Encuesta a operadores del sistema penal (Zona Metropolitana de Guadalajara). The survey represents the largest independent study of a police force ever published in Mexico.  Due to its magnitude, breadth of inquiry, and high level of participation, this study makes a noteworthy contribution to the study of public security issues in Mexico. (Spanish)

Marcos Pablo Moloeznik, Maria Eugenia Suárez de Garay, and David A. Shirk