A new study about drug violence in Mexico from the Trans-Border Institute in San Diego shows that the 15,273 killings in 2010 set a new record. It also found that 84 percent of the killings occurred in four states: Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Guerrero and Baja California.
The report, which is based on data from the Mexican government, shows Sonora registered the 12th-most "organized crime killings" in 2010 and has accounted for the ninth-most from 2007-2010.
The 495 killings in 2010 in Sonora marked an increase from each the previous three years but paled in comparison to the 4,427 in Chihuahua, the 1,815 in Sinaloa and the 1,209 in Tamaulipas.
The 1,253 from 2007-2010 is also well below the 10,134 in Chihuahua in that span, the 4,384 in Sinaloa and the 2,727 in Guerrero.
Here's a link to the study: Trans-Border Institute Releases Report on Drug Violence in Mexico
Here's the first three graphs of a summary of the report:
"Drawing on new data released by the Mexican government, the Trans-Border Institute issued a report today on drug violence in Mexico. The report, titled Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis Through 2010, was authored by Viridiana Ríos and David Shirk and builds on a previous study released one year earlier. The new study reviews available data and analyzes the factors that contributed to extreme levels of violence in Mexico through 2010, the worst year on record.
According to Mexican government data, more than 34,550 killings were officially linked to organized crime during the administration of President Felipe Calderón (2006-12). Based on multiple years of monitoring drug violence in Mexico, the 15,000 organized crime killings that occurred in 2010 set a new record as well as an increase of nearly 60% from the previous year.
The new TBI report underscores the geographic concentration of violence, with 84% of all homicides from organized crime in 2010 occurring in just four of Mexico’s 32 states (Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Guerrero and Baja California) and over 70% occurring in 80 of the country’s roughly 2,450 municipalities. The top five most violent municipalities in 2010 were Ciudad Juárez (2,738 killings), Culiacán (587), Tijuana (472), Chihuahua (670), and Acapulco (370), which together accounted for 32% of all the drug-related homicides in 2010."
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Here's the year-by-year breakdown of "organized crime killings" from the report, for all of Mexico and for a few selected states:
Mexico
2007: 2,826
2008: 6,837
2009: 9,614
2010: 15,273
Sonora
2007: 141
2008: 252
2009: 365
2010: 495
Chihuahua
2007: 244
2008: 2,118
2009: 3,345
2010: 4,427
Sinaloa
2007: 426
2008: 1,084
2009: 1,059
2010: 1,815
Guerrero
2007: 299
2008: 412
2009: 879
2010: 1,137
Baja California
2007: 209
2008: 778
2009: 484
2010: 540
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