Southwest Border Violence

Issues in Identifying and Measuring Spillover Violence

This report focuses on how policy makers would identify any spillover of drug trafficking-related violence into the US. The author provides: 1) an overview of Mexican drug trafficking organization structures, how they conduct business, and the relationship between the drug trafficking organizations in Mexico and their partnerships operating here in the US; 2) a discussion of the illicit drug trade between Mexico and the US, as well as a discussion of factors implicated in drug trafficking-related violence; 3) an analysis of the possible nature of any spillover violence that may arise, as well as issues involved in accurately identifying and measuring such violence; and 4) an evaluation of available crime rate data and a discussion of how this data may or may not reflect changes in drug trafficking-related crime.

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