Lynchings in Mexico: evidence-based patterns

Abstract

Lynchings are a cruel expression of neighborhood justice. The main contributions of the literature point out some factors that promote this self-protection way of applying justice: precariousness, poverty or the inability of the State to provide security; they even refer to this behavior as folklore events associated with rural populations where traditions and customs prevail. This research collects information from 157 lynchings with the intention of identifying patterns of occurrence based on evidence. The findings indicate that the main risk factors for dying in a lynching are that they occur in populations less than 7000 inhabitants, that the police do not intervene and that there is partial coordination between levels of government.