El Caribe has posted an article which is very revealing in relation to homicides committed in DR in 2021. Interesting reading and no surprises which are the most dangerous barrios in Santo Domingo. Santiago is having a big problem with murders right now and San Francisco de Macoris in Duarte is probably the most dangerous place to live if you look at the figures for Duarte a largely rural province.
Of a total of 1,357 homicides registered last year, 807 occurred in five demarcations. The localities that concentrated in 2021, 59 percent of the deaths at the hands of other people were Santo Domingo (353), Distrito Nacional (147), Santiago (164), San Cristóbal (83) and Duarte (60).
The province of Santo Domingo tops the tragic list. Judging by the number of homicides that occurred that year in this demarcation, then Villa Mella, Los Guaricanos, Herrera, Sabana Perdida and Los Mina are listed as the most dangerous to live in, accumulating 116 deaths of the 353 registered there.
However, the indicator par excellence to measure citizen insecurity in a country is the homicide rate, which also functions as a kind of thermometer to identify the areas within the territory that have become more violent in a given time.
When computing for the highest homicide rate in 2021, in the first five places are Hato Mayor (32.65), Espaillat (28.71), El Seibo (20.54), Duarte (20.03) and Barahona (16.92). Of the 1,357 homicides registered that year, 160 occurred in those five provinces.
Those who die the most
Other variants such as the sex of the victim also become important in a very marked way. The data posted on the page of the Attorney General's Office (PGR), specify that of the 1,357 registered homicides, 1,207 correspond to men and 150 to women.
As happens in violent deaths, young people between 18 and 34 years old are the ones who die the most in these circumstances. Last year, 721 lost their lives in the most productive moment of their lives, followed by people between the ages of 35 and 51, with 323 events.
Computed by nationality, Dominicans lead the list of homicide victims with 85.63%, followed by Haitians with 13.41%, according to data from the National Institute of Forensic Sciences and the National Police, managed by the PGR.
Fights and drugs with the highest number of deaths
Official agencies divide homicide records between those related to crime and those that are not, the latter being the ones with the highest incidence, with 755 cases compared to 440.
Of homicides not related to crime, fights are the most frequent cause of death, with 512 events, followed by intimate femicide (86), passionate affairs (74), accidental circumstances (19) and domestic violence (15).
Meanwhile, of the number of deaths related to crime, 120 were linked to drugs, trying to rob or robbery (81), attempted robbery (62), victim of robbery or robbery (59) and dispossession of a firearm. fire (30).
Regarding the weapon used in the more than 1,300 homicides registered in 2021, 62% originated with firearms and 26% with bladed weapons.
2021 breaks the downward trend
Official records indicate that in 2021 there were 1,357 deaths at the hands of other people in the national territory. The figure raises the homicide rate to 12.88, two points more than that presented in the year the pandemic began (2020), when it was at 10.85, a period that accumulated 1,134 deaths from this cause.
The homicide rate for 2021 is even higher than that registered in 2019, when it was 11.83 and 1,225 deaths in violent circumstances were computed.
The increase in the tragic indicator breaks with the downward trend that had been taking place in the last decade, which in none of the cases was less than a thousand. According to the data tracked by the Citizen Security Observatory, the general homicide rate in the last decade fluctuated as follows:
In 2011, the indicator stood at 26.3, with a number of deaths of 2,517. In 2012, the rate was set at 23.4, with 2,268 deaths, the following year, it dropped to 20.3, with 1,991 deaths in violent circumstances.
The homicide rate continued to decline in 2014 to 18.3, with a total of 1,813 cases, in 2015, this leveler dropped to 16.8, with 1,675 events.
Already in 2016, the indicator was located at 16.0, with 1,616 homicides, the following year the fall continued, presenting a rate of 15.4 with a number of cases of 1,561 already for 2018, there was talk of a rate of 13.39 and 1,375 deaths.
In 2021, 77 died under PN action
Deaths attributed to police action have a separate table in the distribution of statistics. At the hands of agents of the National Police, 77 people died in 2021. In 2020, the number of violent deaths under police action was 80. “Death by legal intervention refers to the death of a person at the hands of the police or other law enforcement officials, such as the military on duty, while detaining or attempting to detain lawbreakers, suppressing a riot, maintaining order, or taking other lawful action when the use of force by law enforcement officers is necessary to protect life ”, highlights the Security Observatory.
