CESOP Survey Finds Insecurity Altering Daily Habits of Mexico Citizens Michael Lohmuller - Insight Crime
go to original May 24, 2016

A new survey documents the effect crime is having on the way citizens in Mexico go about their daily lives even as public officials seek to downplay insecurity levels.

The survey of citizens by Mexico's Chamber of Deputies research center (Centro de Estudios Sociales y de Opinión Pública - CESOP) found 58 percent of respondents feel insecure where they live, and that 68 percent believe they may become the victim of a crime.





In comparison to last year, 41 percent of those interviewed believe security in Mexico has decreased, while 26 percent think it has improved.

A total of 65 percent reported having adopted methods to protect themselves from public insecurity over the last year. This included: avoiding ATMs (42 percent); hiding personal belongings on public transport (37 percent); and, being careful about sharing information on social media and the Internet (35 percent).



The crime reported as most common where respondents live was theft (60 percent), followed by drug trafficking (15 percent). Kidnapping and extortion both came in at just under 5 percent.



Overall, 97 percent of respondents believe there is a lot of crime in the country. They identified the principal cause of crime as unemployment (34 percent), followed by lack of education (21 percent), lack of policing (14 percent), drug consumption (11 percent), and poverty and marginalization (10 percent).



While 62 percent reported having been or knowing someone who has been the victim of a crime, 68 percent said they had never filed a criminal complaint with the authorities. The top reason given for not doing so was fear of reprisal (18 percent).

Moreover, 49 percent believe public authorities are involved in criminal activity. The army, with 41 percent, was the security institution respondents said they trusted most, while less than 4 percent felt the same about either municipal or state police.

Read the rest at InSight Crime

InSight Crime is a foundation dedicated to the study of the principal threat to national and citizen security in Latin America and the Caribbean: organized crime. We seek to deepen and inform the debate about organized crime in the Americas by providing the general public with regular reporting, analysis and investigation on the subject and on state efforts to combat it.

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!