Study: 98.5 pct of crimes go unpunished in Mexico

Mexico City, Agency
Some 98.5 percent of the crimes committed in Mexico go unpunished, the Milenio newspaper reported over the weekend, citing a new study by the Monterrey Institute of Technology.

Of the 7.48 million crimes - both federal and common - committed in Mexico this year, according to the study, the conviction rate has been only about 1 percent.

Only about 64,000 crimes have been reported, the study found.

About 15 percent of reported crimes are investigated, but only about 4 percent of the cases are completed due to the "slowness in the majority of the proceedings and failure to comply with the law," the study said.

The average length of an investigation, however, has been reduced substantially from 269 days in 2006 to 130 days today.

Only about 1.75 percent of suspects ever get convicted, with the sentences imposed totaling 112,249.

The study was prepared using figures from President Felipe Calderon's fourth state of the nation report, which came out in September, as well as other official statistics.

Projections in the study assume that the trends in the official figures will continue.

The judicial reforms enacted in 2008, calling for the use of oral hearings to speed cases through court, have been implemented in only seven states. Mexico has 31 states plus a Federal District.

A study released by the Private Security Council, meanwhile, said in a report that Mexico City had the second-highest number of drug-related crimes and kidnappings in the country.

The report issued by the council, which is made up of about 200 private security firms, said the drug business grew about 20 percent in Mexico City in one month, while nearly half of kidnappings were of the "express" variety, 26.8 percent were conventional and 21.9 percent were carried out with the goal of murdering the victim.

The high crime rate, according to the council, is fueled by the fact that 60 percent of the 110,000 police officers in the capital are assigned to the bank and security divisions, which guard businesses and commercial buildings.