crime

Homicides at record high in 2008

Last year, a murder was committed in Panama every 14 hours, according to police records.

la prensa

murder rate dropped 1144440

A total of 593 homicides were recorded in the country during 2008, representing a record figure of this type of crime in comparison to the last 15 years. This, according to a statement by top prosecutor, James Bernard, yesterday.

In the final report delivered Thursday by senior prosecutors of the First Judicial District, it translates this figure into one murder every 14 hours, compared with the year 2007, in which official records reported a murder every 19 hours.

The report goes on to state that, of this total number of homicides, 460 (or 77.6 percent) were committed using illegal firearms, a 65 percent increase over 2007.

Bernard noted that this high murder rate has generated a proliferation of firearm-trafficking gangs in the country.

Moreover, the statistical report emphasized - without delving into specific details - that more crimes were committed in the months of January, February, March, November and December than any other months of the year, while in April, September, and October, a lesser number of homicides was reported.

The highest crime rates for 2008 were registered in the provinces of Panama (70.9 percent), Colón (17.5 percent) and Veraguas (4.5 percent).

Over the course of the year, there were 214 people prosecuted for this crime, of which 133 were convicted and 81 acquitted in 182 hearings conducted by senior prosecutors.

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