Crime in Chile is investigated by the

Chilean police Investigations Police of Chile (, PDI) are the civilian police of Chile. Founded in 1933, it is one of two Chilean police bodies, along with the law enforcement police: Carabineros de Chile. The PDI is the principal law enforcement arm of the Pub ...

. However, unlike the majority of Latin America, criminal activity in Chile is low, making Chile one of the most stable and safest nations in the region. Various analysts and politicians concur that in the 2020s crime in Chile is on the rise to levels similar to the rest of Latin America. Increased murder rates and

illegal drug trade The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs throug ...

are attributed by some to illegal immigration, other attribute the rise of crime more generally as the result of increased globalization.

Crime by type

Murder

In 2012, Chile had a murder rate of 3.1 per 100,000 population. There were a total of 550 murders in Chile in 2012. In 2017, the

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC; French: ''Office des Nations unies contre la drogue et le crime'') is a United Nations office that was established in 1997 as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention by combining the ...

informed a rate of 4.3 intentional homicide rate per 100,000 population

Corruption

As of 2006, there were isolated reports of government corruption in Chile. Transparency International's annual

Corruption Index The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index which ranks countries "by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys." The CPI generally defines corruption as an "abuse of entru ...

recorded that the Chilean public perceived the country as relatively free of corruption.

Domestic violence

Violence against women was prevalent across all classes of Chilean society until 1994.Culliton, K. M. (1994, January). Legal remedies for domestic violence in Chile & the US--Cultural relativism, myths & realities. Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law . As of the early 1990s, it was reported that domestic violence affects about fifty percent of the women in Chile. The Intrafamily Violence Law passed in 1994 was the first political measure to address violence in the home, but because the law would not pass without being accepted by both sides, the law was weak in the way it addressed victim protection and punishment for abusers.Haas, Liesl (2010). Feminist Policymaking in Chile. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press. The law was later reformed in 2005. In 2019, amid the ongoing Catholic sex abuse crisis in Chile, non-retroactive legislation was passed removing the statute of limitations for trying people for committing sex abuse against children in Chile.

Historical crime

Banditry and piracy

During the 19th and early 20th century banditry was widespread in Araucanía and Central Chile.

References

{{Americas topic, Crime in