Top 10 Costa Rica

Crime On The Increase In Costa Rica, San José The Leader in Homicides

Crime in Costa Rica is on the increase, especially in homicides, which has gone from an average, in the whole country, of one murder daily to 1.5, and San José leading the way with 57 homicides so far this year.

The numbers were provided by Paula Guido, head of the homicides division of the Ministerio Público, who confirmed that the number of homicides is on the increase.

Guido said that for the same period in 2008, there were 56 families grieving a loved one.

However, contrary to what one would believe, the largest number of homicides have occurred in the peripheral areas of San José and not the downtown core, where crime is supposedly the worst.

The Tercer Circuito Judicial de San José registers the largest number of homicide cases. The Terce Circuito serves the populations of Desamparados and Pavas.

One of the worst areas for homicides is the community known as La Carpio, west of San José, which is currently controlled by a number of rival gangs, whose members under the code of silence, making it very difficult to prosecute, according to Guido.

The fiscal explained that the motives for the homicides has also changed. Six months ago, most the homicides were families of victims of assaults taking revenge. However, today, the motivation behind most homicides are feuds and personal problems.

Randall Picado, subdirector de la Fuerza Pública, confirms that the code of silence frustrates investigations and as such have begun a program of getting out as many illegal weapons out of the conflict areas as possible.

The head of the Organismo de Investigacion Judicial (OIJ), Jorge Rojas, said that 10% of the homicides this so far this year have been a settling of scores, whcih is a direct action of organized crime.

Rojas said that although San José is violent, the rest of the country does not escape the effects of rising crime.

The OIJ director blames the lack of sufficient patrols and police officials to avoid the crimes, as criminals know this and the failure of the penal system, which gives them (the criminals), license to commit their acts.