Institutional inefficiencies in law enforcement: Constructing composite indices of impunity from Italian provincial data

This study introduces a novel methodology for quantifying impunity at the provincial level, within the same national legal framework. By aggregating indicators of the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies in Italy, we construct two indices meant to measure the likelihood that criminal and civil offenders remain unpunished. The first focuses on the determinants of impunity of criminal misdemeanours, based on four observable variables that reflect the efficacy of the institutional response to crime. The second, broader index aims at more widespread illicit behaviours, both civil and criminal, by adding variables that measure the efficiency of institutions (tribunals and local authorities) in dealing with civil and tax collection disputes. We utilise the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to assign weights to the variables that compose the index. Our study reveals significant regional disparities in the levels of impunity, which, on average, decrease with latitude, with northern regions exhibiting lower impunity levels.