Correlates of Mexican Vigilantism 2011

• In Event: Comparative Approaches: Crime, Security, and the State

Abstract

Using a unique Mexican date set, Citizenship, Democracy, and Drug-Related Violence, this paper examines the likely proximate causes of vigilantism in narco-trafficking violence ridden Mexico. With the extraordinary explosion of violence and murder in several Mexican states since 2006, in the face of strong perceptions of police and government corruption, and the conviction that government efforts have been impotent, Mexicans in the most violent states have begun to take the law into their own hands. This paper examines the strongest likely causes, finding that it has been the experience of actual violence and perception of threat that is the strongest determinant. Data from three of Mexico’s most violent states are examined.

Author

• James A Norris, Texas A&M International University