Estimating the impact of Mexican drug cartels and drug-related homicides on crime and perceptions of safety

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 941-973 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roxana Gutiérrez-Romero
2021 ◽  
pp. 97-118
Author(s):  
Karla Vermeulen

The chapter “Unsafe at Any Time” examines Generation Disaster’s perceptions of safety, risk, fairness, and other consequences of their early environment, and it explores whether these concerns relate to the high rates of anxiety and depression reported by this generation relative to other cohorts. It also describes the methodological challenges that are inherent in trying to make valid comparisons to previous ages, given all of the dramatic societal changes of the past few decades, and the chapter discusses the impact of the belittling descriptions of this cohort by elders as being overly sensitive or generally inferior to previous generations, when in reality their often cautious worldview may be an adaptive response to a genuinely more dangerous world.


2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
John A. Shjarback ◽  
Edward R. Maguire

This study tests whether violence directed toward American law enforcement has increased in the wake of events in Ferguson, Missouri, in summer 2014. Using monthly data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) reports (2010–2016), we carried out time-series analyses to examine trends in nonfatal assaults on police officers in a sample of 4,921 agencies. Neither injurious nor noninjurious assaults on officers increased following Michael Brown’s death in August 2014. The findings are robust across a variety of model specifications and estimation techniques, providing little evidence of a “War on Cops” through 2016. The study adds empirical rigor to an ongoing national debate based largely on speculation/anecdotes. The impact and potential consequences of the current climate for officers’ perceptions of safety/risk are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-26
Author(s):  
Khaled Al-Surimi ◽  
Shahenaz Najjar ◽  
Abdulrazak Al Quidaihi ◽  
Emad Masuadi

ABSTRACT Introduction The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the Saudi national accreditation program on patient safety culture in a secondary-tertiary public hospital in Saudi Arabia. Methods Three hundred health professionals were randomly selected to participate in a survey. The survey was used in three phases: baseline, before accreditation, and after accreditation. Primary and secondary outcome measures were teamwork within hospital units, feedback and communication about errors, hospital handoffs and transitions, overall perceptions of safety, frequency of event reporting, and perception of patient safety grade. Results The survey response rate was 100%. A statistically significant impact of accreditation was found for teamwork within hospital units, feedback and communication about errors, and hospital handoffs and transitions (p = 0.002, 0.009, and 0.010, respectively). Ordinal logistic regression confirmed that the accreditation program had a significant effect on overall perceptions of safety (odds ratio [OR] [1.42–13.56], p = 0.010), frequency of event reporting (OR [0.91–7.96], p = 0.073), and staff awareness of grading safety culture (OR [0.02–0.70]) and reporting behavior (OR 0.10 [0.03–0.37]). Conclusion The Saudi national accreditation program had a significant positive impact on some patient safety culture dimensions and outcomes. These findings provide local empirical evidence on the benefits of implementing national accreditation programs. Further research on a larger scale is highly recommended.


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youyi Bi ◽  
Sixuan Li ◽  
David Wagner ◽  
Tahira Reid

Automakers are interested in creating optimal car shapes that can visually convey environmental friendliness and safety to customers. This research examined the influence of vehicle form on perceptions based on two subjective inference measures: safety and perceived environmental friendliness (PEF). A within-subjects study was conducted in 2009 (Study 1) to study how people would evaluate 20 different vehicle silhouettes created by designers in industry. Participants were asked to evaluate forms on several scales, including PEF, safety, inspired by nature, familiarity, and overall preference. The same study was repeated in 2016 (Study 2). The results from the first study showed an inverse relationship between PEF and perceptions of safety. That is, vehicles that appeared to be safe were perceived to be less environmentally friendly, and vice versa. Participants in the second study showed a similar trend, but not as strongly as the 2009 participants. Several shape variables were identified to be correlated with participants’ PEF and safety ratings. The changes in the trend of participants’ evaluations over seven years were also discussed. These results can provide designers with insights into how to create car shapes with balanced PEF and safety in the early design stage.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-35
Author(s):  
Armando Pena ◽  
Elizabeth Schott

In 2013, El Paso, TX, was selected for the third time in a row by the Congressional Quarterly Press as the number one safest city with a population over 500,000 people (Borunda, 2013).  Just across its border though, sits Ciudad Juarez, considered one of the most dangerous cities in the world. There is a unique social ecosystem between the two cities, a product of many years of shared history and traditions. The El Paso-Juarez area also happens to be one of the most valuable plazas for the Mexican Drug Cartels. According to BBC Mundo, the Sinaloa Cartel has won the El Paso-Juarez territory over the Juarez Cartel and the Zetas (Najar, 2012). Consequently, now that the territory is dominated by one cartel, drug trafficking through the area will likely increase and smuggling through border crossing check points will continue to be more prevalent. The purpose of this research effort is to assist the Border Patrol in allocating its resources towards improved interdiction of illicit trafficking. Whether it is manpower, money, technology, or any other resource, the Border Patrol desires to efficiently allocate to maximize interdiction. This analysis is intended to suggest a tool that will assist in allocating resources and aid the extremely important effort to maintain El Paso, TX, as the safest city in the U.S. by keeping drugs away from the streets. This research presents a network flow model of the complex illicit trafficking network operating in the El Paso-Juarez area, and provides insight that will aid such agencies as the Border Patrol in allocating its resources.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 445-447
Author(s):  
Kalen Flynn ◽  
Therese S Richmond ◽  
Charles C Branas ◽  
Douglas J Wiebe

Exposure to adverse neighbourhood conditions can negatively impact adolescent well-being and perceived safety. However, the impact of neighbourhood social trust on perceived safety is largely unknown. We studied 139 adolescent men to investigate how their perceptions of safety varied as a function of social trust levels in the neighbourhoods they traversed; neighbourhoods that were not necessarily their own. Adolescents mapped their minute-by-minute activities over a recent day and rated their perceived safety on a 10-point scale during in-person interviews. Neighbourhood social trust was measured via a citywide random sample survey. Mixed effects regression showed that, compared with their safety perceptions when in areas of low social trust, older adolescents were 73% more likely to feel unsafe when in areas of medium social trust, and 89% more likely to feel unsafe when in areas of high social trust. Inverse relationships between neighbourhood social trust and adolescents’ perceived safety highlight the complex interplay between youth, environmental contexts and safety.


2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (7) ◽  
pp. 900-937 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillermo Trejo ◽  
Sandra Ley

This article explains why Mexican drug cartels went to war in the 1990s, when the federal government was not pursuing a major antidrug campaign. We argue that political alternation and the rotation of parties in state gubernatorial power undermined the informal networks of protection that had facilitated the cartels’ operations under one-party rule. Without protection, cartels created their own private militias to defend themselves from rival groups and from incoming opposition authorities. After securing their turf, they used these militias to conquer rival territory. Drawing on an original database of intercartel murders, 1995 to 2006, we show that the spread of opposition gubernatorial victories was strongly associated with intercartel violence. Based on in-depth interviews with opposition governors, we show that by simply removing top- and midlevel officials from the state attorney’s office and the judicial police—the institutions where protection was forged—incoming governors unwittingly triggered the outbreak of intercartel wars.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine J. Jones ◽  
John Crowe ◽  
Joseph A. Allen ◽  
Anne M. Skinner ◽  
Robin High ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Conducting post-fall huddles is considered an integral component of a fall-risk-reduction program. However, there is no evidence linking post-fall huddles to patient outcomes or perceptions of teamwork and safety culture. The purpose of this study is to determine associations between conducting post-fall huddles and repeat fall rates and between post-fall huddle participation and perceptions of teamwork and safety culture. Methods During a two-year demonstration project, we developed a system for 16 small rural hospitals to report, benchmark, and learn from fall events, and we trained them to conduct post-fall huddles. To calculate a hospital’s repeat fall rate, we divided the total number of falls reported by the hospital by the number of unique medical record numbers associated with each fall. We used Spearman correlations with exact P values to determine the association between the proportion of falls followed by a huddle and the repeat fall rate. At study end, we used the TeamSTEPPS® Teamwork Perceptions Questionnaire (T-TPQ) to assess perceptions of teamwork support for fall-risk reduction and the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPS) to assess perceptions of safety culture. We added an item to the T-TPQ for respondents to indicate the number of post-fall huddles in which they had participated. We used a binary logistic regression with a logit link to examine the effect of participation in post-fall huddles on respondent-level percent positive T-TPQ and HSOPS scores. We accounted for clustering of respondents within hospitals with random effects using the GLIMMIX procedure in SAS/STAT. Result Repeat fall rates were negatively associated with the proportion of falls followed by a huddle. As compared to hospital staff who did not participate in huddles, those who participated in huddles had more positive perceptions of four domains of safety culture and how team structure, team leadership, and situation monitoring supported fall-risk reduction. Conclusions Post-fall huddles may reduce the risk of repeat falls. Staff who participate in post-fall huddles are likely to have positive perceptions of teamwork support for fall-risk reduction and safety culture because huddles are a team-based approach to reporting, adapting, and learning.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document