Towards a Comprehensive Measurement of Crime: The Mexican Case

• In Event: International Efforts to Measure Crime and their Implications for Criminologists

Abstract

Despite its relevance, crime and criminal justice information had traditionally not been considered as a priority in the production of official statistics in Mexico, and until recently the country lacked a system of statistics on these subjects. In 2008, however, the Mexican National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) undertook the initiative of building a Subsystem of Information on Government, Public Security and Justice in order to provide society and policymakers with relevant and useful data on these matters. This presentation will review INEGI’s experience in this endeavor. It will describe some of the policy decisions taken by the Institute to produce this information and analyze some of its statistical instruments’ main results. The presentation will provide an opportunity to reflect on the key role NSOs may play in enhancing the capacity of countries to produce statistical data on crime, and the usefulness of this information for the development of public policies, solid research, programme planning, and many other activities in which criminologists are crucially involved.

Author

• Mario Palma, Board of Governors - National Institute of Statistics and Geography of Mexico