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October 20, 2013
Why are murder rates so high in Puerto Rico and might criminal law be to blame?
A thoughtful reader responded to this recent post on violent crime rates in New York City and Chicago with these interesting comments:I wonder why I rarely see coverage on your blog of the high crime rate in Puerto Rico, which has a per capita murder rate six times higher than the rest of the U.S (and, which, if it were on the mainland, would probably be occupied by the National Guard by now). The USAO has been borrowing state prosecutors to process criminals; jails are overflowing; the federal government seeks capital punishment in some very egregious cases although the local constitution and popular opinion opposes it. These seem to be items of relevance to Sentencing Law and Policy.... Please help to draw attention to the depressing, yet interesting, criminal issues facing the island.
Upon my request, this helpful reader suggested the following links to draw more attention to the "depressing, yet interesting, criminal issues facing" that lovely island:
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NPR story from earlier this year discussing the high crime rate in Puerto Rico
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A dated article from the Miami Herald explaining that federal prosecutors in Puerto Rico are more aggressively using the Hobbs Act and firearm offenses to take cases away from local prosecutors in order to increase prison times and hold people without bail (which is argued to increase victim cooperation).
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A recent FoxNews article on the government's increasing focus on anti-crime efforts in P.R.
October 20, 2013 at 07:30 PM | Permalink
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Comments
1) The value of life is less in Puerto Rico, since their income is less. The lawyer also devalues victims in proportion to the melanin in their skin. If you have dark skin, you get murdered 6 times more often, just like in the USA, everywhere else. The lawyer cares a lot about black vicious predators, spending billions saving their lives from the death penalty, falsely boohooing about racism. Dark skinned victims generate nothing and may rot. One solution is to reverse the Supreme Court decisions saying the police has no duty to individuals. That is a fiction, because it is individuals that pay their salaries for protection. Tort liability is needed against the city when its agents, the police, deviate from professional standards of due care. This liability will also shrink government as nothing else can.
2) The trauma care system is strictly Third World. American trained docs are not available to the poor. Survive the injury, the health care system will finish the job. Part of the defunding of care is from an above average tort liability climate for emergency care. Why would anyone try if the reward is a lawsuit? If you like the Third World standards, thank the lawyer. These evaluators chose to be PC, refusing to even issue a grade for the state of emergency care.
http://www.emreportcard.org/PuertoRico.aspx
3) Bastardy in Puerto Rico: 46%. No more need be said.
Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Oct 20, 2013 8:34:40 PM
Victorian prison death rise blamed on overcrowding and tougher sentencing
Violence, self-harm and assaults on staff soar as human rights advocates warn state is ‘heading down the path of California’
Human rights advocates have blamed prison overcrowding and draconian sentencing for alarming rises in deaths, incidents of self-harm and assaults in Victoria’s prisons.
Figures released in the state’s Department of Justice annual report show that 13 people died while in custody in 2012-13, up from four the year prior.
Meanwhile, incidents of self-harm have soared, with eight out of every 100 prisoners harming themselves in the past year – double the rate of 2008.
Assaults on prisoners by other prisoners hit a new high, with 18 prisoners in every 100 experiencing violence. Assaults on staff climbed to four for every 100 prisoners, nearly double that of five years ago.
In recent years, the Victorian government has looked to toughen up sentences for certain offenders, expanded electronic tracking of those released into the community and, most recently, tightened up the parole regime in the wake of the Jill Meagher murder.
But critics claim that these policies have resulted in overcrowding, pointing to a recent report by the state ombudsman that warned Victorian jails were operating at three times their capacity.
“This is a trend that will only get worse due to policies that really need to be reconsidered,” said Hugh de Kretser, executive director of the Human Rights Law Centre. “We speak to people who have tried to get mental health help in prison but are denied access due to the problems caused by overcrowding.
“The net effect is a lack of humane conditions for prisoners, but also a less safe community because these people are released without getting those essential services to help them stop reoffending.
“Broadly speaking, I’d say overcrowding increases the triggers to deaths in custody. There is more difficulty in managing volatile situations when you can’t move prisoners between cells, so you see an increase in assaults.
“The system is at capacity but the government is accelerating prison numbers because of a so-called tough on crime approach. We are heading down the path of California when it comes to prison conditions and reoffending.”
Edward O’Donohue, Victoria’s corrections minister, had not responded for a request for comment at the time of publication.
Posted by: George | Oct 21, 2013 1:40:15 AM
George: 123D. There would be so few prisoners, you could maintain Ritz Carlton standards. Most of the prisoners you boohoo for should have been executed before age 18, before entering their busiest period of their careers.
These reports are tawdry and cheap advocacy for more tax funds, with no benefit for the tax payer. There is nothing that can prepare them for the outside world because the rewards of crime are too great to resist.
Suicide should be strongly encouraged and rewarded, with great meals, illegal drugs, and the opportunity to donate organs if qualified and infection free.
These pseudo-charitable organizations are heartless enemies of crime victims. Victim direct action groups should bring the violence to them. To deter these rent seeking liars.
Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Oct 21, 2013 2:44:00 AM
|Why are murder rates so high in Puerto Rico|
Idea #1: anon16 | Oct 6, 2012: / Puerto Rico is an island that banned capital punishment 80 years ago. /
Idea #2: / Puerto Rico is a Latino country./ Lo seinto, mis amigos laninoamericanos.
(UNODC murder rates per 100,000 most recent year) unodc.org…/Homicide_statistics2012.xls
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate)
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Brazil 21.0 (but no DP)
Mexico: 22.7 (but no DP)
Dom. Repub.: 25.0 (but no DP)
PUERTO RICO: 26.2 (but no DP)
El Salvador: 69.2 (but no functional DP)
Honduras: 91.6 (but no DP)
Posted by: Adamakis | Oct 21, 2013 1:51:45 PM
population control, not enough money to go around,greed and survival
just like the WAR US is from the CENSES or census and obama care , why is there War, good vs evil , to many problems and greed
Posted by: cia | Jan 28, 2014 11:37:50 AM
