Local Government Public Spending and the Incidence of Crimes and Offenses in Peru, 2019–2023: The Case of Budget Program 0030

Abstract

The research aimed to evaluate the impact of public spending executed by local governments on the incidence of crimes and offenses in Peru during the period 2019–2023, addressing the question of how local government public spending influences the incidence of crimes and offenses in the country during that period, taking Budget Program 0030 as a reference. The study followed a quantitative approach, classified as applied research, oriented toward generating greater knowledge about the relationship between public spending on citizen security and criminality. The research level was descriptive-correlational, with a non-experimental and cross-sectional design. Data collection was based on official sources such as crime and citizen security statistics from the National Institute of Statistics (INEI) and the “Consulta Amigable” platform of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF). The results showed that crimes against property—mainly theft and robbery—were the most frequent during the analyzed period. Furthermore, a positive but weak correlation was found between public spending on citizen security and the incidence of crimes and offenses (Pearson’s Rho = 0.10; p < 0.05). In conclusion, although a statistical relationship exists, higher spending on citizen security does not necessarily guarantee a reduction in criminality in the Peruvian context.