by Monserrat López Pérez (@MonLopez_)
Mexico is trapped in a vicious cycle of violence and impunity. In 2021, 94 people were murdered, and ten women were intentionally killed every single day. Despite the gravity of such crimes, the Mexican authorities are failing to prosecute and investigate them with diligence and a gender perspective.
In our last report on Impunity in Intentional Homicides and Feminicides at Impunidad Cero (Zero Impunity) we used data to highlight the country’s justice crisis and offered public policy recommendations to break the never-ending cycle of violence and impunity in which our country is trapped.
Violence levels in Mexico
In 2018 Mexico reached the highest intentional homicide rate, with 29 murders per 100,000 inhabitants. Although homicide rates have decreased 7.8% from 2018 to 2022, we have maintained high levels over recent years. Only in 2020, the murder rate was 28.4, higher than Colombia, Brazil, and Guatemala, all countries which have historically presented higher murder rates than Mexico.
Although the majority of victims of intentional killings are men, murder rates should be analyzed through a gender lens. Gender violence is a widespread problem in Mexican society, with seven out of every ten women, having experienced it in some form. It has been documented how microaggressions by partners or family members can lead to more extreme aggression, such as feminicides—the violent murder of women based on their gender.
While feminicides have progressively been recognized as a crime by local legislation since 2011, the authorities continue to fail to investigate the violent killings of women from a gender perspective. Despite the Mexican Supreme Court stating that all violent murders of women should be investigated as feminicide, only 27% of the violent murder of women was investigated and prosecuted as such in 2021. Furthermore, murders of women tend to be classified as non-intentional to a greater extent, related to intentional killings of men.
Mexico’s Level of Impunity
To measure the country’s impunity levels, we estimated the proportion of intentional homicides and feminicides that have not led to convictions over six years. With this measure, we found that only 7 out of every 100 intentional homicides committed in the last six years have led to convictions, and more than half of the feminicides recorded in the same time frame remain unsolved.
The lack of institutional capacities to take action against such serious offenses and the prevalence of organized crime in the country both perpetuate the lack of justice. One big challenge is that local Attorneys Generals are responsible for prosecuting intentional killings. However, in 2021 around 70% of them were committed with firearms, implying that they are related to crimes such as illegal weapon carrying or organized crime, which fall under federal jurisdiction. That emphasizes the importance of institutional coordination between the local and Federal levels, particularly in Mexican states with a significant prevalence of organized crime-related homicides, such as Baja California, Guanajuato, Zacatecas, or Jalisco.
How to reduce violence and impunity levels?
In Impunidad Cero we developed a series of public policy recommendations to reduce gender violence and improve the prosecution of intentional murders and feminicides in the country. Among them are first, to focus on gender violence prevention by providing public assistance to women and their children in situations of violence. Shelter services and protection orders can help to safeguard women and prevent violence from escalating.
Second, it is necessary to improve the investigative capacities of the Local Attorneys General, which have several deficiencies in the prosecution of high-impact crimes. For instance, by prioritizing its resources in homicide and feminicides investigation, developing and applying information and communication technologies (ICT), and creating or updating gender-based protocols. Also, it is crucial to improve coordination between actors involved in the criminal investigation process, especially between Federal and local agencies, and public prosecutors and police officers. The police officers commonly arrive first at the crime scene, have a proximity relationship with citizens, and can provide helpful information for the prosecution process.
Last but not least, the country needs a National Security and Justice Strategy centered on civil institutions, which are responsible for prosecuting homicides, feminicides, and more than 90% of the crimes committed in the county. However, the Federal Government has centered its security strategy on strengthening the military forces by providing them with more resources and additional functions beyond preserving national security. In the middle, local persecution authorities continue to operate with few personnel and funds, resulting in a lack of institutional capacity to investigate crimes.
More guns on the streets will not bring justice to unsolved crimes. The bet on putting more military forces on the streets has weakened Mexican federalism and its local security institutions. To break the cycle of violence and impunity, Mexico needs to strengthen the capabilities of civilian institutions to prevent and prosecute the violence.
Here you can find the data and scripts I used.
monlopez 