April 2015 Monitoring homicide to monitor violent crime. Strengths and weaknesses 13 th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice

Standard method and Comparability The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) is a standard tool to monitor the causes of morbidity and mortality. Most countries (117) use the system to report mortality data, a primary indicator of health status. Death certificate includes the cause of death and is used to produce mortality statistics When the causes of death were not natural, but injuries inflicted by another person with intent to injure or kill, by any means, the decease is considered an homicide and is classified under the ICD-10 codes X85-Y09. With these tools, mortality statistics forms the primary source for the analysis of causes of deaths, in particular for violent deaths.

Homicide Statistics – Temporal trend Sources: INEGI. Mortality statistics by cause of death. CONAPO. Population projections Homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants, by year & sex

Homicide Statistics – Spatial local pattern Average Rate Per 100,000 inhabitants Hot Spot Analysis

Homicide Statistics – Main causes of homicide

Violent Crimes Rates – Bivariate Analysis

Violent Crime Rates – Comparisons Homicide Crimes w/weapon Kidnapping Assault 2013

Violent Crime Rates – Dynamics National Rate (2013): 50.2% of crimes National Rate (2013): 19.5 per 100,000 inhabitants HomicidesCrimes w/weapons

Violent Crime Rates vs Population Homicide rateCrimes w/ weapon Population R 2 = 0.00 R 2 = 0.42

Violent Crime Rates vs Insecurity perception Insecurity perception (at the Neighbourhood level) Homicide rateCrimes w/ weapon R 2 = 0.00 R 2 = 0.36

Homicide statistics based on mortality records make use of a standardized method implemented by many countries. Administrative record with low degree of underreport. Allows for in-depth analysis and comparisons at global, regional, national, local and city levels. Data allows mapping using different variables for analysis In Mexico, homicides are more related to crimes committed with weapons and kidnappings Conclusions: Strengths

Homicide is one of the many different causes of the total deaths. Obtaining homicide statistics from mortality records implies great complexity for collecting and coding the total deaths. There are time constraints to provide homicide statistics. There are differences with criminal justice statistics. To fully monitor violent crime, additional sources are needed, such as crime victimization surveys. In Mexico, homicides are not related to assaults, sexual and domestic violence. Conclusions: Weaknesses

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