Media effects on crime rates and crime style among Mexican drug cartels

Contributing to a more nuanced and detailed understanding of media effects on crime, this paper presents empirical evidence that detailed media coverage of homicides, influences the probability that criminals use similar murder styles, but does not change overall crime rates. We tracked 31,676 homicides carried out by drug cartels operating at the US-Mexico border, its stylistic characteristics, and the detail with which the media covered each of them. With this uniquely detailed and large dataset, we estimated reaction functions to determine the Granger causality between the quality of media coverage, crime rates and crime style. Our estimates show that media coverage does not encourage criminal acts, but may strongly influence the modality under which crimes are conducted. The use of credit-taking banners or the exposition of tortured bodies becomes more frequent after media has covered similar crimes in detail.