Central America and the Caribbean > Costa Rica > Crime

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Acquitted	1,753		[26th of 30]
Car thefts	4,385		[25th of 46]
DEFINITION: Total recorded automobile thefts. Crime statistics are often better indicators of prevalence of law enforcement and willingness to report crime, than actual prevalence.
SOURCE: The Eighth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (2002) (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention)
Corruption > % of managers surveyed ranking this as a major business constraint	39.94 %		[3rd of 39]
DEFINITION: Corruption measures the share of senior managers who ranked corruption as a major or very severe constraint.		View time series
SOURCE: The Eighth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (2002) (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention)
Death penalty > Abolition date	1,877		[64th of 64]
DEFINITION: Amnesty International
SOURCE: World Development Indicators database
Drug offences	1,099 per 100,000 people		[33rd of 46]
DEFINITION: Drug offence cases per 100,000 population (2000).
SOURCE: Last updated: 01/04/03
Frauds	1,849		[31st of 48]
DEFINITION: Total recorded frauds. Crime statistics are often better indicators of prevalence of law enforcement and willingness to report crime, than actual prevalence.
SOURCE: The Eighth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (2002) (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention)
Manslaughters	552		[8th of 42]
DEFINITION: Total recorded non-intentional homicides. Crime statistics are often better indicators of prevalence of law enforcement and willingness to report crime, than actual prevalence.
SOURCE: The Eighth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (2002) (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention)
Murders committed by youths	75		[39th of 73]
DEFINITION: Homicide rates among youths aged 10–29 years by country or area: most recent year available (variable 1990–1999).
SOURCE: The Eighth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (2002) (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention)
Murders committed by youths per capita	5.5		[27th of 57]
DEFINITION: Homicide rate per 100,000 population aged 10–29 years
SOURCE: World Health Organization: World report on violence and health, 2002
Murders with firearms	131		[11th of 36]
DEFINITION: Total recorded intentional homicides committed with a firearm. Crime statistics are often better indicators of prevalence of law enforcement and willingness to report crime, than actual prevalence.
SOURCE: World Health Organization: World report on violence and health, 2002
Prisoners	8,526 prisoners		[71st of 168]
DEFINITION: Total persons incarcerated
SOURCE: The Eighth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (2002) (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention)
Prisoners > Female	10.8%		[5th of 134]
DEFINITION: Female prisoners, expressed as a percentage share of the total prison population. Data for 2003.
SOURCE: The Eighth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (2002) (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention)
Prisoners > Foreign prisoners	8.7%		[38th of 86]
DEFINITION: Prisoners who are foreign nationals, expressed as a percentage share of total prison population. Data for 2003.
SOURCE: International Centre for Prison Studies - World Prison Brief
Prisoners > Per capita	229 per 100,000 people		[32nd of 164]
DEFINITION: Data for 2003. Number of prisoners held per 100,000 population.
SOURCE: International Centre for Prison Studies - World Prison Brief
Prisoners > Share of prison capacity filled	109.6%		[79th of 128]
DEFINITION: The percentage of the offical prison capacity filled. This is obtained by comparing the number of prisoners in a nation to the offical capacity of the nation's prison system. Data for 2003.
SOURCE: International Centre for Prison Studies - World Prison Brief
Software piracy rate	61%		[55th of 107]
DEFINITION: The piracy rate is the total number of units of pirated software deployed in 2007 divided by the total units of software installed.
SOURCE: International Centre for Prison Studies - World Prison Brief
Total crimes	40,263		[37th of 50]
DEFINITION: Note: Crime statistics are often better indicators of prevalence of law enforcement and willingness to report crime, than actual prevalence.
SOURCE: Fifth Annual BSA and IDC Global Software Piracy Study
Transnational Issues > Trafficking in persons > Current situation Costa Rica is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor; women and girls from neighboring states, Russia, Uzbekistan, and the Philippines are trafficked into the country for sexual exploitation; Costa Rica also serves as a transit point for victims trafficked to North America and Europe; the government identifies child sex tourism as a serious problem; men, women, and children are also trafficked within the country for forced labor in fishing and construction, and as domestic servants
DEFINITION: Trafficking in persons is modern-day slavery, involving victims who are forced, defrauded, or coerced into labor or sexual exploitation. The International Labor Organization (ILO), the UN agency charged with addressing labor standards, employment, and social protection issues, estimates that 12.3 million people worldwide are enslaved in forced labor, bonded labor, forced child labor, sexual servitude, and involuntary servitude at any given time. Human trafficking is a multi-dimensional threat, depriving people of their human rights and freedoms, risking global health, promoting social breakdown, inhibiting development by depriving countries of their human capital, and helping fuel the growth of organized crime. In 2000, the US Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), reauthorized in 2003 and 2005, which provides tools for the US to combat trafficking in persons, both domestically and abroad. One of the law's key components is the creation of the US Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report, which assesses the government response in some 150 countries with a significant number of victims trafficked across their borders who are recruited, harbored, transported, provided, or obtained for forced labor or sexual exploitation. Countries in the annual report are rated in three tiers, based on government efforts to combat trafficking. The countries identified in this entry are those listed in the 2006 Trafficking in Persons Report as Tier 2 Watch List or Tier 3 based on the following definitions: Tier 2 Watch List countries do not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but are making significant efforts to do so, and meet one of the following criteria: 1. they display a high or significantly increasing number victims, 2. they have failed to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking in persons, or, 3. they have committed to take action over the next year. Tier 3 countries neither satisfy the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking nor demonstrate a significant effort to do so. Countries in this tier are subject to potential non-humanitarian and non-trade sanctions.		View time series
SOURCE: The Eighth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (2002) (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention)
Transnational Issues > Trafficking in persons > Tier rating Tier 2 Watch List - Costa Rica is on the Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat human trafficking, particularly in terms of its failure to improve its inadequate assistance to victims; while Costa Rican officials recognize human trafficking as a serious problem, the lack of a stronger response by the government is of concern
DEFINITION: Trafficking in persons is modern-day slavery, involving victims who are forced, defrauded, or coerced into labor or sexual exploitation. The International Labor Organization (ILO), the UN agency charged with addressing labor standards, employment, and social protection issues, estimates that 12.3 million people worldwide are enslaved in forced labor, bonded labor, forced child labor, sexual servitude, and involuntary servitude at any given time. Human trafficking is a multi-dimensional threat, depriving people of their human rights and freedoms, risking global health, promoting social breakdown, inhibiting development by depriving countries of their human capital, and helping fuel the growth of organized crime. In 2000, the US Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), reauthorized in 2003 and 2005, which provides tools for the US to combat trafficking in persons, both domestically and abroad. One of the law's key components is the creation of the US Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report, which assesses the government response in some 150 countries with a significant number of victims trafficked across their borders who are recruited, harbored, transported, provided, or obtained for forced labor or sexual exploitation. Countries in the annual report are rated in three tiers, based on government efforts to combat trafficking. The countries identified in this entry are those listed in the 2006 Trafficking in Persons Report as Tier 2 Watch List or Tier 3 based on the following definitions: Tier 2 Watch List countries do not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but are making significant efforts to do so, and meet one of the following criteria: 1. they display a high or significantly increasing number victims, 2. they have failed to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking in persons, or, 3. they have committed to take action over the next year. Tier 3 countries neither satisfy the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking nor demonstrate a significant effort to do so. Countries in this tier are subject to potential non-humanitarian and non-trade sanctions.		View time series
SOURCE: All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008
Unpaid diplomatic parking fines	10.1		[60th of 143]
DEFINITION: Average Unpaid Annual New York City Parking Violations per Diplomat, 11/1997 to 11/2002.
SOURCE: All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008

Interesting facts on Costa Rican Crime

• Women make up more than 10% of the prison population in only six countries: Thailand, , Qatar, Paraguay, Costa Rica, and Singapore.

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