Transcript David Crow - Investigadores CIDE

Experiences of Crime and Attitudes
Toward Human Rights in Mexico
David Crow
División de Estudios Internacionales
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE)
[email protected]
Presented at the International Conference “Surveys and Human
Rights: Local Reception of International Norms,” CIDE, November
12-13, 2015
Dilemma: Fight Crime or Protect
Rights of the Accused?
Dual Context
• Rising Crime & HR Violations
– 100k+ homicides, 25k forced disappearaces
since drug war
– Complaints against Army, Navy, police forces
• Increased Commitment to Human Rights
– legal / institutional / rhetorical
– civil society
– 2008 criminal justice reform
Research Questions
• Do people believe that human rights
protect criminals?
• Where are the people who believe this?
• Does experience of crime (direct or
indirect) incline people to believe this?
Data
• Las Américas y el Mundo (CIDE) / Human
Rights Perceptions Polls (UMinn)
– Mexico (2012, 2014-15)
– Colombia (2013, 2015); Ecuador (2012, 2014)
– HRPP (Morocco: 2012; India: 2012-2013;
Nigeria: 2014)
• Data: Mexico 2014-15
– N = 2,400
– 160 municipalities
– 10-60 Rs in each
Definitions of Human Rights
• “¿Qué tanto tiene que ver proteger a delincuentes___
con lo que usted entiende por derechos humanos?”
– Scale of 1-7
– 1 = “not at all”
7 = “very much”
• Liberal
– “protecting people from torture and murder”
– “promoting social and economic justice”
– “promoting free and fair elections”
• Skeptical:
– “promoting U.S. interests”
– “promoting foreign values and ideas”
Do Mexicans Believe Rights Protect Criminals?
•
Not really: Avg. = 2.7 (midpoint of 4)
– Liberal view prevails:
• Socioeconomic Justice (5.9)
• Protection from torture (5.8)
• Free and fair elections (5.2)
Geographical Distrubution
• Municipal-level averages (SAE)
• Northern states: avg. 1.4 pts. higher
Causes
• Crime:
– Direct Experience: victimization (personal or
family): murder, kidnapping, robbery/theft
– Living in High Crime Area (homicide rates)
– Drugs (number of cartels in municipality)
• Politics:
– Parties (% of municipal vote)
Homicides
Homicides
• High-murder municipalities map onto high
rights skepticism
Homicides
• Every additional 100 murders  ↑ 0.6 pts.
San Fernando: 5.2
San Diego de la Unión: 2.8
BUT …
• No relationship so far to direct experience
of victimization
• Possible relationship to no. of cartels
– weakens when controlling for murder rate
Useful for Advocates?
• Diagnosis
• Targetting
• Messaging