2008 has not been a banner year for law enforcement on Puerto Rico:Puerto Rico's homicide rates so far this year have surpassed 800 victims, 80 more homicides than reported in 2007 and the highest homicide rate in over a decade.Last year the Justice Department dispatched additional officers to fight crime on the Puerto Rican capital of San Juan yet that has been ineffective.
This weekend alone police reported that two homicide victims were found on Saturday and three others on Sunday.
So far, this year police have reported 802 homicides or Type 1 Crimes. According to police authorities Puerto Rico's highest homicide rates were reached in 1996 when some 868 violent deaths were reported.
Police superintendent Pedro Toledo has called for a "serious" analysis to be done to examine the social roots of crime, while an increasing number of Boricuas are advocating changes to “the traditional, exclusively punitive system of dealing with criminals.”
Image- MSNBC (“Men carry the casket of Puerto Rican nationalist Filiberto Ojeda Rios (in 2005) as a crowd of supporters look on in eastern Puerto Rico.”)
Online Sources- MSNBC, LAHT, Caribbean Net News
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