According to a report issued by Dominican Republic’s Citizen Safety Observatory, violence, crime and robberies declined significantly from January to March 2015.

During the first quarter of 2015, there were 453 murders, 4% below last year’s figure, deaths due to criminal activity were down 10%, murders by persons unknown were down by 36% and deaths due to action of the security forces was down 4%. This now represents a murder rate for the period of 18.2 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Suicides were also reported to be 106, which was 34% less than for the same period last year.

Overall, violent deaths were down 12% for Jan-March 2015 compared to the same quarter in 2014.

Most murder victims were in the 20-39 age group, for 57% of total violent deaths. The report went on to say that 89% were male, 66% of deaths involved firearms, and 23% were due to stabbings. The number of people stabbed to death was down 16% on last year. Of the murders, 54% were domestic issues, 28% were crime related and 10% carried out by the security forces.