551 homicides and 210 suicides were reported in Puerto Rico in 2020

551 homicides and 210 suicides were reported in Puerto Rico in 2020

As presented in the most recent Report on Violent Deaths in Puerto Rico

The Puerto Rico Violent Death Notification System (PRVDRS) established at the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics, presented data from the Puerto Rico Violent Deaths Report for the year 2020. The report reports that in 2020, there were 729 incidents of violent deaths, with a total of 790 fatalities. Of the total number of violent deaths, 551 were homicides and 210 were suicides. According to the PRVDRS, violent deaths occur primarily through homicide or suicide.

In 2020, 69.8% of victims of violent deaths were reported in single or multiple homicide incidents and 26.6% were suicide incidents. Four homicide-suicide incidents were reported, resulting in eight fatalities. In addition, four violent deaths attributed to legal intervention (0.5%) and 19 violent deaths with undetermined intent (2.4%) were documented during this period.

In 2020, approximately nine out of 10 victims of violent deaths (89.0%) were men. The crude homicide rate was 24.1 per 100,000 inhabitants, 45.2 in men and 4.9 in women. The primary mechanism of the homicides was firearms. Approximately, nine out of 10 homicides (88.9%) involved a firearm. 89.6% of these deaths occurred in men and 83.7% in women. The proportion of homicides of women with firearms in 2020 is the highest since 2000. Homicide rates by sex in age groups between 15 and 39 years reflect that in these age groups, 72.7% of all homicides occur in men and 61.2% in women. The most common criminal circumstances of homicides in Puerto Rico are related to illegal drug trafficking and organized crime.

In 2020, 68 fatal victims of family violence were reported. Most of these cases were related to violence in an intimate partner or former partner environment (17 cases, 25.0%) and 31 additional victims related to intimate partners or third parties involved in an intimate partner conflict (45.6%). In turn, violence between family members (20 cases, 29.4%), occurred mainly during an argument (50.0%). The majority of victims of intimate partner violence were women (76.5%) who were fatally assaulted by their former partner or former male spouse (61.5%) or current partner or spouse (38.5%). In addition, three of the women victims of intimate partner violence were homicide-suicide incidents (23.1%).

As for suicides in Puerto Rico, the report highlights that the frequency is lower than that of homicides. However, as in homicides, suicides are more frequent in men (84.8%). In 2020, the crude suicide rate was 6.4 per 100,000 inhabitants, 11.4 in men (one of 124 men) and 1.9 in women (one of 765 women). The risk of suicide in men was six times greater than the risk of suicide in women. Most suicides occurred by hanging, strangulation, or suffocation (64.3%), followed by firearms (16.7%).

Mariluz Bezares, manager of statistical projects at the Institute of Statistics and co-principal investigator of the PRVDRS, explained that the collection of this type of data could involve fieldwork that takes more than two years from the time the incident occurs until the collection and review of the data is completed. “This system is a reliable, complete and unique reference source that helps describe the context of violent deaths in the victim-aggressor relationship and the magnitude, trend and characteristics of violent deaths in Puerto Rico,” said Dr. Diego Zavala, epidemiologist and co-principal investigator of the PRVDRS.

For the executive director of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics, Dr. Orville M. Disdier, these statistics are one of the main tools to combat the phenomenon of violence in Puerto Rico. “These data, among others, serve as a basis for establishing effective measures for the prevention of violence in Puerto Rico, from multiple social, demographic and economic approaches. Our commitment at the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute is to continue strengthening this statistical and epidemiological system to continue improving the quality of this type of data,” said Dr. Disdier.

The PRVDRS is an epidemiological surveillance system affiliated with the Institute of Statistics and designed to obtain a complete and standardized census of violent deaths in Puerto Rico. The PRVDRS began its participation in the National Violent Death Notification System (National Violent Death Reporting System, NVDRS) in September 2016 through a collaborative agreement granted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute is an autonomous governmental entity tasked with coordinating the government's statistical production service to ensure that the data collection and statistics systems, on which public policies are based, are complete, reliable, and accessible quickly and universally. The Report on Violent Deaths in Puerto Rico during 2020, like previous reports, is available at: Prvdrs. To learn more about the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics, you can access the website at www.estadisticas.pr.gov and on social networks through Facebook (@estadisticas .pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR) and LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico) accounts.

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Date: July 14, 2023

To add a new Article 519 to Act No. 4 of June 23, 1971, as amended, known as the “Puerto Rico Controlled Substances Act”, for the purpose of maintaining a record and statistics of persons intervened and processed for the possession and/or distribution of controlled substances specifying the age, neighborhood, profession, education and marital status of the person intervened or processed and the controlled substance or substances and their respective quantity or quantities for which they were intervened, processed or being prosecuted criminally to a person.

Date: June 28, 2023

R. C. of S. 375: To order the Department of Labor and Human Resources of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (DTRH) to comply with the provisions of Article 7 of Law 16-2017, known as the “Puerto Rico Equal Pay Act”, which requires the Department of Labor and Human Resources to begin a statistical study on wage inequality between men and women with the purpose of using the results as a starting point to measure employers' compliance with the provisions of said law.

Date: June 21, 2023 R. del S. 716: To conduct research on the current public policy of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico related to identifying and quantifying the existing population of patients diagnosed with some type of dementia, the accessibility and quantity of public and private services necessary to care for and treat them, as well as compliance with all laws and regulations that cover this population; and for other related purposes.

Date: June 12, 2023 P. de la C. 1750: To create the “Law to Establish the New Teaching Model by Creating Citizens” as an alternative educational methodology in schools of the Department of Education; to establish its purpose and public policy; to establish the guidelines of the teaching methodology; to structure the metrics and evaluation instruments; to authorize an extended schedule and expand the academic offer from the maternal period; to enable a novel extracurricular program adapted to the 21st century; to authorize a register of affiliated entities and design a permanent collaborative agreement; create the “Auxiliary Secretariat for Creating Citizens”; state its purpose, functions, duties and responsibilities; establish the responsibilities of teaching staff under this doctrinal reformulation; lay the foundations for their financial autonomy and provide direct access to municipal, state and federal funds; recognize the power to adopt regulations; amend Articles 2.01, 2.04, 2.05 and 7.01 of Law 85-2018, as amended, known as the “Puerto Rico Educational Reform Act”; add a new paragraph E to Section 1033.10 (a) (1), and add a new paragraph (v) to Section 1033.15 (a) (3) (B) of Law 1-2011, as amended, known as the “Internal Revenue Code for a New Puerto Rico”, in order to establish tax credits for companies that provide economic or human resources to this new academic model and allow a deduction by donation or contribution for incidental expenses for contributions made through a collaborative agreement with the schools participating in the “Creating Citizens” teaching model; and For others related purposes.

Date: June 6, 2023R. C. del S. 377: To order the Puerto Rico Department of Economic Development and Commerce to create a plan for the economic development of the Western Region of Puerto Rico, in order to encourage economic development, attract investors to the area, the rehabilitation of abandoned buildings, attract income to municipalities, increase employment and establish a sustainable economic landscape that improves the quality of life of residents of the Western zone.