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Thursday, March 28, 2024

World Down Syndrome Day

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Photo: Iveth Quintanilla, Mental Health Coordinator by Charles...

Murder, rape and robbery up from 2006, but other crimes decline

GeneralMurder, rape and robbery up from 2006, but other crimes decline
The nation saw a slight reprieve from major crimes in 2006, but the crime rate is escalating again in 2007. There have been 54 murders so far this year—compared with 49 last year. March was the bloodiest month since January 2005, with an uncharacteristic peak of 15 murders – 80% of the victims being young men. Likewise, the incidences of robberies and burglaries shot up in the month of March.
 
The arrest rate for major crimes – murder, rape, robbery, burglary, theft and carnal knowledge – continues to be low. The arrest rate for major crimes is half that for minor crimes, which is recorded at roughly 60%. From January to July this year, for example, police landed 593 arrests for 2,000 incidences of major crimes, indicating that a vast majority of the culprits go undetected.
 
Additionally, police are reporting fewer arrests than they did for the same period last year. For major crimes, police landed 593 arrests compared with 655 in 2006 and 738 in 2005.
 
There were also fewer arrests for minor crimes – 1,661 so far this year compared to 1,743 for January to July 2006 and 2,447 for the same period in 2005.
 
While the total cases of major and minor crimes have declined when compared with the same period last year, the rates of murder, rape and robbery are considerably higher. This year’s figures are comparable to those recorded in 2005, however.
 
The murder rate, in particular, continues to be a cause of major concern in our community. Even though the high rate of crime has been linked with gun violence, many of the murders that took place in March, for example, did not involve guns. In many cases, victims were chopped and stabbed—one with what police described as a homemade weapon, which was effective enough to strike a single fatal blow to the victim, who was a police sergeant’s son.
 
The demographics of major crimes have remained relatively unchanged over the years, with a large concentration of criminal activity being seen in Belize City, and especially on the Southside. Other high crime centers are the Stann Creek and Orange Walk districts.
 
The murder victims continue to show a common profile, mostly young males between the ages of 20 and 40.
 
The statistics will demonstrate that while crime is a problem in Belize City, it is not entirely an urban phenomenon. Most of the major crimes occurring in the districts tend to affect rural communities as profoundly as they affect Southside Belize City. Some murders, for example, have been perpetrated on far-off farmlands or along isolated “picados” or dirt roads.

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