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Is Homicide in Puerto Rico High?

Brandeis University

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: rgodoy{at}brandeis.edu.

	Abstract

Many observers have said that Puerto Rico has more violent crime than the US mainland. I use 1980-2005 data from the FBI and the police of Puerto Rico to show that Puerto Rico had (a) lower annual rates and faster improvement in aggravated assault, rape, and robbery than the mainland; (b) a higher homicide rate than the mainland and no signs of converging to mainland rates; and (c) a higher lethality ratio from aggravated assault than the mainland. I discuss explanations for Puerto Rico’s paradox: high poverty, political marginality, and high lethality from aggravated assault but less violent crime (except homicide) than the mainland.

First published on February 29, 2008, doi:10.1177/1088767908314091

Homicide Studies 2008;12:188.

A more recent version of this article appeared on May 1, 2008


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