Crime rate in Mauritius in 2010- Taux de criminalite a Maurice en 2010

Crime rate in Mauritius in 2010- Taux de criminalite a Maurice en 2010

Difference between perception and facts : Crime

The CSO report Crime, Justice and Security statistics 2010 reveals one very clear fact. Though the Mauritian population has the impression that crimes are on the rise it is in fact the reverse. The report indeed points out that out of 100 heads of household interviewed 80 of them had the impression that crime was on the increase in the country. However, only 30 out of 100 thought that crime had increased in their neighbourhood. Even more telling is the fact that crime, as measured by police-reported offences exclusive of contraventions, declined in 2010 from 50,250 in 2009 to 46,750 in 2010. This was mainly due to a fall of 16% in the number of thefts from 16,850 to 14,230. According to the Police force the installation of CCTV cameras could have been one of the main reasons for this decline.

Road Contraventions

Road traffic contraventions was on the rise from 142,540 to 163,480 . 88  per cent of these contraventions referred to speed issues. It is very likely that introduction of speed cameras in December 2008 was the main reason for the rise in  the number of contraventions was mainly due to speeding shot from 17,700 in 2008 to 40,100 in 2009 and 58,400 in 2010. It was however sad to note that the number of contraventions due to driving under the influence of liquor was on the rise by  7% from 1,210 in 2009 to 1300 in 2010.

Juvenile delinquency

CSO also reported that the juvenile delinquency rate decreased from 6.0 in 2009 to 5.2 per 1,000 mid-year juvenile population in 2010.

Analysis

The above figures just go to show that even if the media highlight more and more ‘faits divers’ the figures tell another story. One common reason often highlighted is that the crimes committed nowadays are much more dramatic than before even though they are less. The question is why? Maybe a decline in moral values? exposure to violent images on the net or on TV? greater disparity between rich and poor?…an investigation of the causal factors would have to be carried out to understand this issue.