Updated data on femicide in Puerto Rico

Fifty-nine femicides were reported in Puerto Rico between 2021 and 2023

November 9, 2023. San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute), updated the data on femicide in Puerto Rico, presented in the section entitled “Femicide Statistics”, through its Platform for Statistics and Indicators on Gender Violence (See: https://estadisticas.pr/en/Comite-Pare). According to Mariluz Bezares, Manager of Statistical Projects at the Institute and Coordinator of the Puerto Rico Violent Death Notification System (PRVDRS), in 2023, six (6) of every 10 homicides of women were femicides (60%). Other highlights from this update include:

• In 2023, 87% of intimate femicides were with firearms (In 2021, 61% of intimate femicides were with firearms and in 2022, 77% of intimate femicides were with firearms).
• In 2023, 53% of intimate femicides occurred among women aged 25 to 44 (In 2021, 61% of intimate femicides occurred among women aged 25 to 44 and in 2022 54% were among women aged 45 to 64).
• Thirteen (13) is the total number of femicides between 2021 and 2023 where the aggressor committed suicide after killing the victim.
  • Of these, thirteen (13) were in the context of intimate femicide and one (1) was in the context of family femicide. From January to September 2023, five (5) were in the intimate context.
• As of September 2023, a total of nineteen (19) cases of femicide have been registered.
• In 2023, 55 violent deaths of women were recorded (In 2021, 67 violent deaths of women and one (1) death of a trans person were recorded, and in 2022 there were 84 violent deaths of women).
• In 2023, 52% of women's violent deaths were due to homicide, and 42% were due to suicide.
• In 2023, 50% of female homicides occurred among women between 25 and 44 years old.

The data collected and presented by the Institute arise in part as a result of collaboration with various entities, including the Puerto Rico Police Bureau, the Institute of Forensic Sciences and the Demographic Registry of the Department of Health.

The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute is a governmental entity in the executive branch, with fiscal and administrative autonomy, whose main purpose is to ensure that Puerto Rico has complete, reliable statistics with quick and universal access. To learn more about the Institute of Statistics, you can access the website: www.estadisticas.pr. On social media through Facebook (@estadisticas .pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR), Instagram (@institutodeestadisticas) and LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico) accounts.

PRESS RELEASE

Significant advances in the structure of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics

A Strategic Plan that will allow the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute to be a more effective and effective one, the signing of a collaboration agreement with UNA-USA Puerto Rico to generate the first 13 indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals for Puerto Rico, the updating of the section on studies related to Hurricane Maria, as well as offering support and guidance to those interested in applying for job opportunities in the 2020 Census, are some of the advances made by the Statistics Institute of Puerto Rico during this year 2019.

Aware of the responsibility to coordinate the government's statistical production service to ensure that data is reliable and quickly and universally accessible, during this year the institute also completed and presented important publications such as: the Yearbook of the Puerto Rico Education System: 2015-2016, the World Values Survey for Puerto Rico 2018, the Migrant Profile 2017, the Food Security Report for Puerto Rico 2015, and the Student Health and Safety Profile in Puerto Rico: Years 2015-2017. The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute added to the achievements of 2019 to complete the data for the year 2017 of the Puerto Rico Violent Death Surveillance System, which received an excellent score in all quality criteria and ranked number one among the 42 participating jurisdictions.

“It has been a year of great progress for the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics, because not only are we fulfilling our role of coordinating the production of complete and reliable statistics, but we have also established important alliances with various sectors that allow us to continue advancing our mission, while presenting opportunities to strengthen the research methodologies we carry out. For next year 2020, we will provide continuity with updates to the Puerto Rico Education System Yearbook, the Migrant Profile, and the Student Health and Safety Profile in Puerto Rico, among other products”, said the acting executive director of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics, Dr. Orville M. Disdier.

-Continue-

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 most significant achievements of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics during this year are available at: Most Significant Achievements of the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute 2019.

To learn more about the Institute of Statistics, you can access the website: www.estadisticas.pr.gov. On social media through Facebook (@estadisticas .pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR) and LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico) accounts.

###

Contacts:

Idia M. Martinez, R-28

787-603-3200

imartinez@upfrontpr.net

Lourdes Burgos, R-27

787-562-2932

‍

PRESS RELEASE June 26th, 2018
DR. MARIO MARAZZI-SANTIAGO
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

AUTHORIZED STATEMENTS BY THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE OF STATISTICS REGARDING THE APPROVAL OF P. C. 1403 BY THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF PUERTO RICO

We are waiting to hear the results of the conference committees so that we can know what will be approved. However, we take the liberty of making some statements in general terms about our feelings.

We are struck by the lack of legislation to advance the transparency agenda in this session. Added to that is the possible approval of P. de la C. 1403 with which, far from promoting greater transparency, the Legislative Assembly would seem to take several steps backwards on that important agenda.

In recent days, we have seen how municipal governments, on their own, have begun to take steps towards greater transparency in the way they manage public funds. It leaves deafening silence the months and years that the central government has ignored the possibility of participating free of charge in the same Puerto Rico Financial Transparency System, which municipal governments are now beginning to adopt.

In the same way, even though there is a virtual global scientific consensus in favor of allowing the Institute of Statistics to continue to carry out its functions independently, the Government also seems to ignore it.

On this occasion, not only in Puerto Rico but in the world, they are observing the steps taken by the Legislative Assembly in the coming days with respect to P. de la C. 1403. With the recent experience of the incomplete count of deaths caused by Hurricane Maria, the Government's commitment to transparency will once again be called into question with the approval of P. de la C. 1403.

It's important for me to stress that:

1. This issue has nothing to do with this server but with the defense of the institution's independence. If the Governor were available for dialogue and to desist from his intention to amend the Institute's Organic Law, this servant would leave the Executive Directorate of the Institute immediately.
2. The Institute has 2 administrative jobs. There is no way to achieve savings by merging administrative aspects, when the Institute maintains such a small administrative workforce.
3. There is no political partisanship in the Institute. For years, the Board of Directors with members of different ideologies have been able to work together, just like the professionals they are. This year, for reasons beyond our control, an attempt was made for the first time to introduce partisan politics into the Institute, but so far the Institute has successfully rejected this attempt.
4. In these 10 years, the Institute has achieved significant improvements in Puerto Rico's statistics, despite the obstacles presented by the government apparatus and partisan politics. The reorganization of the Institute will take us back to the last century, and there will be little that the federal government can do to remedy the situation.
5. Thousands of people, 47 world-renowned scientific organizations, 16 congressmen, the Private Sector Coalition, the Transparency Network, the National Academy for the Advancement of the Sciences, the American Statistical Association, the Royal Statistical Society and the Fiscal Oversight Board, among many others, have recommended that the Institute be maintained as an autonomous entity of the Government of Puerto Rico and independent, free from political intervention.

The approval of P. de la C. 1403 is a serious mistake. The Legislative Assembly should not participate in eliminating what it once created to protect the same legislators from being manipulated with erroneous or incomplete information that the Executive Branch controls to ensure that the measures that the current Government wishes are approved. Legislators have the floor.

##

Press Contact: Sandra Morales Blanes (787) 688-0401

‍