At least 83 murders were committed in Belize in 2023, the lowest recorded number of cases. In contrast, during 2018, the number of murder crimes reported to the Belizean police amounted to 143, the highest since, at least, 2015. The frequency of property crimes in Belize also decreased between 2019 and 2020.

In 2024, around 21.7 homicides were committed per 100,000 inhabitants in Belize, slightly up from a murder rate of 21.5 registered a year earlier. Neighboring Guatemala has experienced lower homicide rates than Belize in recent years.

CSV file. Incident data for the murder of females over the past decade.

Historical dataset showing Belize murder/homicide rate per 100K population by year from 2000 to 2021.

From January to November 2024, in Belize, the district with the highest number of crimes was the homonymous Belize with around *** cases. Followed from far by Cayo and Stann Creek with *** and *** felonies respectively.

From January to November 2024, in Belize, the most frequent crimes registered were burglary with 43 cases, robberies with 125 and Theft accounting with 105 cases.

Historical dataset showing Belize crime rate per 100K population by year from 2000 to 2021.

Map features separate layers by year.

A worldwide project started in April 2009 called the Transgender Murder Monitoring Project (TMM) reported that 180 killings occurred between November 2009 and November 2010. Since January 2008, a total of 487 transgender people have been reported murdered. The TMM 2010 report broke down the murders in 19 countries. The majority happened in Brazil (91), Guatemala (15), Mexico (14), and the USA (14). (Source: Transgender Murder Monitoring Project. Regionally, the Belizean transgendered community has been continuously overlooked; they are invisible in the National Strategic Plan of 2006-2011. Funding received by the country for HIV/AIDS and outreach programs rarely reaches the transgender community because the system does not see the population as sufficiently large enough to make investments.The purpose of the research is to create a profile of transgender needs in the Belizean context; this report will feed into a larger effort for a region-wide advocacy plan that will be implemented by CRTA. The significance of the effort may lead to future planning around resource mobilization, capacity building and advocacy.

In 2024, the highest homicide rate among 22 Latin American and Caribbean countries surveyed was in Haiti, with around 62 murders committed per 100,000 inhabitants. Trinidad and Tobago came in second, with a homicide rate of 46, while Honduras ranked seventh, with 25. In the same year, the lowest rate was recorded in El Salvador, with a homicide rate of 1.9 per 100,000 inhabitants. A violence-ridden region Violence and crime are some of the most pressing problems affecting Latin American society nowadays. More than 40 of the 50 most dangerous cities in the world are located in this region, as well as one of the twenty countries with the least peace in the world according to the Global Peace Index. Despite governments’ large spending on security and high imprisonment rates, drug and weapon trafficking, organized crime, and gangs have turned violence into an epidemic that affects the whole region and a solution to this issue appears to be hardly attainable. The cost of violence in Mexico Mexico stands out as an example of the great cost that violence inflicts upon a country, since beyond claiming human lives, it also affects everyday life and has a negative impact on the economy. Mexicans have a high perceived level of insecurity, as they do not only fear becoming victims of homicide, but also of other common crimes, such as assault or rape. Such fear prevents people from performing everyday activities, for instance, going out at night, taking a taxi or going to the movies or the theater. Furthermore, the economic toll of violence in Mexico is more than considerable. For example, the cost of homicide and violent crime amounted to 2099.8 and 1778.1 billion Mexican pesos in 2023, respectively.

Burglary is the most common type of property crime in Belize. From January to November 2024, up to *** burglary cases were reported to the police, including those committed in private households and commercial establishments.

The Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) is an academic institution hosted by Vanderbilt University that began with the study of democratic values in Costa Rica, but today carries out surveys in much of Latin America, Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean. In 2004, LAPOP established the AmericasBarometer as multi-country, regularly conducted survey of democratic values and behaviors in the Americas, and the first round included voting-age respondents from 11 countries. LAPOP collected opinions on major problems facing the country and community, threats to security, attitudes towards the country's political system, and trust in government institutions. Also measured were respondents' participation in community organizations, attitudes towards government critics, voting behavior, confidence in local government, and the prevalence of crime. Demographic information collected includes nationality, ethnicity, native language, age, gender, education level, occupation, religion, and whether the respondent lives in an urban or rural area.

During 2023 in Belize, the drug with the most seized volume among the population was processed cannabis with 337.5 kilograms, followed by cannabis plants, with 19.08 kg.

Data on number of domestic violence cases recorded by the Belize Police Department for the period 2016 to 2018.

Domestic Violence Incident Reports by Formation January to March 2019. Location represents place where police took the report; not where the incidents actually happened.

Domestic Violence Cases by District for Jan to Jun 2019 (Polygons)

The Central American nation with the highest prison occupancy rate, as of April 2025, was Guatemala, when the level stood at almost 300 percent of its official capacity. Nicaragua followed with 177.6 percent of occupancy level. The lowest prison occupancy rate was found in Belize, which, with 67 percent, was the only country whose prison system was not overcrowded. That year, El Salvador had the highest prison population rate in Central America.