Institute of Statistics publishes the latest report on violent deaths: 733 fatalities in 2023
Data from the Puerto Rico Violent Death Reporting System reveals 483 homicides and 241 suicides in Puerto Rico
The Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics (Institute), through the Puerto Rico Violent Death Reporting System (PRVDRS), has presented the findings of its latest report for the year 2023. The data reveals that 674 violent death incidents were recorded in Puerto Rico, resulting in 733 fatalities.
Of the total victims reported, 483 were homicides (65.9%), 241 were suicides (32.9%), six were legal interventions (0.8%), and three were deaths of undetermined intent (0.4%), totaling 733 victims. The crude violent death rate stood at 22.9 per 100,000 inhabitants. Men accounted for nearly nine out of every 10 victims (87.4%).
Key findings from the 2023 Report:
• Homicide profile: Violence primarily affected individuals between the ages of 15 and 39. Additionally, 38.5% of homicides (186 cases) occurred in settings of collective violence linked to drug trafficking.
• Gender-based and family violence: 34 fatalities related to family violence were documented. Of the 24 cases related to intimate partner violence, 91.7% (22 victims) were women. In nearly 8 out of 10 of these femicides (77.3%), a firearm was used.
• Mental health: The suicide rate was 7.5 per 100,000 inhabitants (13.1 for men; 2.5 for women), with asphyxiation being the primary method.
• Firearm use: 90.7% of homicides in Puerto Rico were committed with firearms, compared to a global average of 55.8%.
In light of these figures, researchers at the Institute emphasized that the collection and publication of this data should serve as a catalyst for changing strategies in Puerto Rico. "Over nearly 10 years, invaluable data has been collected. This allows us to understand the magnitude of this problem from a public health perspective, identifying the contexts of violence in Puerto Rico to develop evidence-based prevention strategies for both government agencies and community organizations," stated Dr. Diego Zavala, epidemiologist and co-investigator of the PRVDRS.
For his part, Mario O. Font Martin, the PRVDRS coordinator, emphasized that "violence is a phenomenon that cannot be addressed exclusively by law enforcement agencies; it requires a comprehensive and multisectoral approach."
Marking the tenth anniversary of the PRVDRS's affiliation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the executive director of the Institute, Dr. Orville M. Disdier, highlighted the importance of the project's trajectory: "Scientific evidence shows us that violence is a modifiable behavior if we understand its causes and take appropriate preventive actions. This report is one of the primary scientific tools for promoting changes in strategy."
AMERICAN STATISTICAL ASSOCIATION REQUIRES ROSSELLÓ NOT TO DISMANTLE PUERTO RICO'S STATISTICS INSTITUTE
The executive director attacked the measure and invited the Government to take statistics seriously at this time of fiscal crisis
San Juan, PR, January 25, 2018 — The American Statistical Association, known as the American Statistical Association (ASA) today released a cyber petition entitled Clear Accounts: Let's Preserve the Autonomy and Impartiality of the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute in which he calls on both Governor Ricardo Rosselló and members of the Legislature to desist from transferring the functions of the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (IEPR) to the Puerto Rico Department of Economic Development and Trade in order to eventually outsource all the statistical functions of the Government of Puerto Rico.
The ASA request makes specific reference to Reorganization Plan No. 1 And to Senate Bill 809, which was published yesterday and signed by five scientists from prestigious entities such as Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Yale University.
In addition, he emphasizes that this measure “would dismantle the IEPR and its autonomy, and would jeopardize the transparent and impartial statistical analyses that are critical to the functioning of Puerto Rico and to decision-making in all sectors of society, public and private.”
To this end, the executive director of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics, Dr. Mario Marazzi-Santiago, insisted that everywhere in the world there is a recognition of the need for official statistics to be prepared by independent governmental entities so that they can carry out their functions in a manner totally disconnected from political influences.
The Government of Puerto Rico has a long history of producing, disseminating and presenting rigged, outdated, misinterpreted, and incomplete statistics, and then access to sources of information is not provided so that the information can be verified, either by the citizen or by a congressman. The reality is that statistics are a serious issue and it is time for our Government to take them seriously, particularly if it wants to address its own fiscal problem.
Marazzi Santiago assured that there is no way that the proposed reorganization of the Institute of Statistics, as a program within the Department of Economic Development and Trade or outsourced by it, will solve the serious problem of reliability and credibility that the Government of Puerto Rico has with its statistics.
“We appreciate the efforts of the American Statistical Association (ASA) to create a vehicle that allows data users to express themselves publicly about the proposed reorganization,” said Dr. Marazzi-Santiago.
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The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute is an autonomous governmental entity responsible for 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 have quick and universal access. The Institute has in its inventory, accessible through www.estadisticas.pr, more than 300 statistical products. In addition, it is a guardian and provides access to over 100 data sets or “data sets” through www.data.pr.gov and to over 40 tables and more than 6 thousand indicators through: www.indicadores.pr.
For more information you can visit our website: www.estadisticas.pr. In addition, you can follow us on social networks through Facebook (estadisticas.pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR) and LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico) accounts.
The Institute of Statistics develops an initiative to document compliance with the law that makes library services accessible to people with disabilities
March 20, 2019. San Juan, Puerto Rico — The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute) is carrying out an initiative to ensure that libraries at the University of Puerto Rico, as well as libraries at private universities, post-secondary education institutions and municipalities in Puerto Rico, are complying with Law No. 63, “Act to Establish Inclusive Library Services for Technological Assistance.” This law requires library services to be accessible to people with disabilities through the use of technological equipment.
The initiative, developed by the Institute, in conjunction with the Technological Assistance Program (PRATP), consists of the creation of an electronic questionnaire that each entity or municipality can access to report progress in compliance with the aforementioned law. The Institute is also responsible for data management and the possible publication of related statistics.
“Each library must select a person who is responsible for accessing the platform and providing the data relevant to compliance with Law 63. This process can be completed in approximately 30 minutes. This representative will also serve as a link between his library, the National Library of Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rico Council of Education, the Office of the Ombudsman for Persons with Disabilities of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Technological Assistance Program and the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics,” explained Dr. Oville M. Disdier, acting executive director of the Institute.
The new system will facilitate government access to collect, analyze and disseminate data describing how effective the libraries of public universities, private universities, post-secondary education institutions and municipalities in Puerto Rico have been in implementing Law No. 63, which was signed and approved on April 15, 2011.
“We urge all agencies, municipalities and universities, which must comply with this law, to access and complete the questionnaire before March 29,” said Disdier.
For questions about technical questions related to the questionnaire, entities can contact the Institute via email at cuestionario.ley63@estadisticas.pr or by calling (787) 993-3336. Also, for questions about the programmatic content of the law, you can contact the PRATP at (787) 474-9999 or by writing to pratp@pratp.upr.edu.
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