The World

How Argentina Makes Homicides Disappear

Two men were killed during a confrontation between factions of hooligans of Argentine football team Boca Juniors in Buenos Aires on July 21, 2013. 

Photo by Ignacio Sarraf/AFP/Getty Images

In a tactic that should be familiar to views of The Wire, Argentina has found a clever way to lower its homicide rate. The Insight Crime blog explains:

The number of intentional homicides could be much higher. As reported by La Nacion, another 1,074 youth deaths were recorded as “deaths from outside aggression, of unknown intent,” but not as intentional homicides.

Even this creative accounting can only do so much to hide the growing tide of youth violence in the country, which is currently at its highest level since 2003. However, the murder rate is still relatively low by Latin American standards