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Steve Sailer's avatar

An interesting question is why homicide rates are so low these days among Hispanics who live on the American side of the border vs. the Mexican side of the border: El Paso vs. Ciudad Juarez, Laredo vs. Nuevo Laredo, and San Diego vs. Tijuana.

And was it like that in the 1970s?

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The Anti-Gnostic's avatar

I'd like to think it's self-selection, and tejanos are as good at kicking out their more violent co-ethnics from their American border towns as they are at kicking more violent blacks out of Compton.

Didn't East Palo Alto used to be violent? Is it the company town for Palo Alto?

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Russ Summerell's avatar

As someone that lives in Honduras, it's the drug trade

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The Anti-Gnostic's avatar

There's a drug trade in China too. It's the Hondurans.

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Russ Summerell's avatar

Actually, I meant to say the drug war, which I don't think they have in China

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The Anti-Gnostic's avatar

The Chinese fought two wars to keep opium illegal. Singapore still executes drug dealers, and it's one of the safest countries on Earth.

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Russ Summerell's avatar

Honduras doesn't have the death penalty, these 2 do. The biggest threat here is extradition to US.

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The Anti-Gnostic's avatar

The usual thesis is that harsh penalties drive the trade underground where business practices include killing competitors. Your thesis seems to be that Honduras's laxer penalties encourage Honduran dealers to get away with more. But that bespeaks a problem with criminal behavior by the dealers, not the drug war, because China and Singapore wage a war on drugs too.

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The Anti-Gnostic's avatar

Exactly. That's why the homicide rate in Canada is so low: there's just no drug trade.

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TGGP's avatar

At least they aren't shipping much in the way of illicit drugs into the very lucrative US market, regardless of Trump's claims about fentanyl.

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TonyZa's avatar

Turkey and Albania/Kosovo channel much of Europe's drug trade but their crime rate is far lower than those of Latin America.

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Iain Cheyne's avatar

Proximity to USA gun stores has to be a factor

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The Anti-Gnostic's avatar

American drug dealers are even closer to American gun stores but America has a fraction of the homicide rate.

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Iain Cheyne's avatar

The USA has a far higher GDP per capita

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Iain Cheyne's avatar

Also massive inequality.

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Peterpiper's avatar

Because PR became a preferred transit point later in the smuggling process so the cartels only then did the cartels bring their culture there.

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Sebastian Jensen's avatar

Genetics?

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Iain Cheyne's avatar

Too diverse to be a factor. Also your Twitter is gross.

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Peterpiper's avatar

Pretty simple: near universal government corruption plus machismo. Did the study break out Costa Rica and Uruguay? Once you accept the culture of violent criminality, choosing what crimes to commit is simply what any entrepreneur would do; pick the best ROI. In this case drugs for those with the most money.

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TGGP's avatar

Then why was Puerto Rico's homicide rate like the southern US one prior to 1973?

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Fullantho's avatar

Or the recent rise in Ecuador

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