Youth Crime Crisis in Quintana Roo

Quintana Roo, Mexico — Arrests in 2025 have included young people under 29, even children as young as 12, who are now behind bars accused of serious crimes such as homicide and drug dealing.

During a surveillance patrol on the streets of Cancún on September 23, officers from the Centurión Group of the State Citizen Security Secretariat observed two people exchanging small bags of marijuana. When they approached to conduct a search, they realized one of them was a minor. The 12-year-old, identified only by the initials J. E. A. B., is now at the disposal of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for Minors and is also linked to an armed assault recorded days earlier at the Leona Vicario taxi base.

On September 22, officers from the Investigative Police and the National Guard apprehended two young men, David Melchor, 22, and Brayan Rodrigo, 26, for attempted homicide. The events occurred on the Playa del Carmen-Puerto Morelos highway when the victim was driving a vehicle with two other people. The two detained young men were in a sedan, pulled alongside them, and began shooting. The victim tried to evade the attack and lost control of the vehicle, going off the road, causing the three occupants to run into the brush to hide. The driver was injured in the thorax and left knee. The State Attorney General's Office confirmed that they were mistaken for drug dealers. The two detained young men were carrying .380 caliber and .223 caliber firearms, the latter for the exclusive use of the Armed Forces.

In another case, officers from the Investigative Police, the Tulum Municipal Police, and the National Guard apprehended Jafet Nicolás, alias “Draco” or “El 87”, an 18-year-old originally from Veracruz, on October 12 for attempted femicide. The State Attorney General's Office confirmed that this young man is a member of a criminal group generating violence in Tulum and, at the time of his arrest, marijuana and two 9mm firearms, for the exclusive use of the Armed Forces, were seized from him. This young man serves as a hitman within his criminal group. He was detained for the aggression suffered by a teenage girl whom he forced to consume crystal meth and sexually assaulted. The following day, the minor was taken to a dirt road where the young man shot her eight times, causing three injuries and puncturing a lung, although she survived. The young offender is now in mandatory pre-trial detention.

Just like these three cases, the stories number more than a hundred this year alone. They are minors and young people already linked to criminal gangs, homicides, femicides, extortion, drug dealing, robberies, and child sexual abuse. Each case has been reported by the State Attorney General's Office and the State Citizen Security Secretariat, either in press releases or at the Security Table conferences held on Mondays.

But there are more cases. On October 6, authorities confirmed the detention of David Melchor, 22, and Brayan Rodrigo, 26, for aggravated homicide in Playa del Carmen. There is also the detention of Jesús Adolfo, 19, and Álvaro Yael, 18, accused of violent vehicle robbery in Playa del Carmen. And the case of Axel, 24, and José Julián, 22, for homicide in Cancún, both considered drug distributors belonging to a criminal group.

Last September, Ángel Arturo, 24, was detained for extortion in Cancún. For child sexual abuse, Rafael Salvador, 28, whose victim was his own daughter, in Playa del Carmen. And for rape, Darío, 24, for events that occurred in Tulum.

Authorities have also reported multiple arrests of young people linked to drug dealing, in events occurring during raids on businesses and homes in various municipalities of the state, such as Benito Juárez, Playa del Carmen, Isla Mujeres, Cozumel, and Tulum. Therefore, the number of young people exceeds one hundred.

Broken Childhoods and Violent Environments

Behind each detention or linking to legal proceedings, there are stories that may be related to abandonment, frustration, and environments where family violence has been normalized. Psychologist Alim Yam, a specialist in child and youth therapy, explains that many of these cases have very deep roots that begin in childhood and are strengthened by a lack of family and emotional bonds.

"These young people were not born criminals. Many grew up in homes where violence was everyday, where they were not listened to nor taught to manage frustration or anger. They are children who learned that aggression was a way to communicate with the world," she says.

The specialist states that social networks and digital content, to which all people have access today, play a very important role in the construction of their references throughout their growth.

"Today, adolescents grow up seeing models that glorify the fast life, easy money, and violent fame. Series, songs, TikTok videos, or even video games reinforce the idea that brutality is synonymous with power. For someone with emotional or economic deficiencies, that is seductive," she says.

According to the psychologist, the absence of psychological support in schools and the overload of parents who work all day or who are accustomed to living in an environment of violence or vices at home contribute to many minors seeking containment in the wrong places.

"When there is no family, the street becomes family. And when there is no affection, the criminal group offers an identity, a belonging. In those contexts, the line between feeling protected and becoming an aggressor is easily erased," she comments.

Are They Lost Causes?

Although the future of many of these young people seems to be marked by their crimes, psychologist Alim Yam states that not all cases are lost, as timely interventions can make a real difference in their social reintegration. However, she acknowledges that psychological care services within social reintegration centers are still insufficient, so the process depends largely on the will and disposition each young person has to change their life.

"There are cases where, with timely intervention, young people can be rescued. But the current system abandons them once they are detained; there are no real reintegration programs or therapeutic follow-up. Without emotional accompaniment, jail only trains them to commit crimes better," she points out.

The Void Drives Youth Crime

For psychoanalyst Jorge Navarrete, what is happening in Quintana Roo is part of a broader generational phenomenon in which young people build their identity from emptiness and hopelessness.

"We are seeing a generation that finds no meaning in the legal or the social. They grow up without a life project, with a permanent feeling of lack. Crime not only gives them money, it gives them identity and purpose," he states.

The specialist explains that behind the criminal behavior that each young person develops, there is an emotional structure that has been broken and that begins in childhood with the relationship in their family nucleus.

"Many of these young people grew up with absent parents, in contexts where affection was replaced by consumption or indifference itself. They did not develop a reliable authority figure, and that is why, later, the figure of the criminal leader becomes their paternal reference. He is the one who sees them, validates them, and gives them a place in the world, even if it is from violence," he says.

The expert states that violence in these young people does not arise from evil, but from a deep need for recognition.

"When a 25-year-old commits a homicide or joins a criminal cell, he does so out of a need to be someone. He is not moved by ideology, he is moved by emptiness. It is a cry for existence: 'if they don't see me for who I am, they will see me for what I do'," he explains.

Influence of Social Networks

For Jorge Navarrete, the problem is also in the current cultural context, where immediacy and emotional overexposure with sensitive content on social networks reinforce a feeling of emptiness in each young person.

"Digital platforms are shaping a way of thinking based on constant validation. The likes, the followers, the immediate recognition. When that doesn't come, a frustration very similar to what triggers aggressive behavior is activated. The young person who fails to be seen online seeks to be feared on the street," he explains.

He adds that many of those detained do not understand the magnitude of their actions until they are immersed in the penal system.

"They are young people who have lived so exposed to violence that they no longer perceive the harm they cause. In therapy, what we hear most is: 'I didn't know it was that serious.' It is the consequence of having grown up in an environment where death became scenery."

"We cannot expect a kid who was never listened to, who never had a real opportunity to build something, to suddenly rehabilitate on his own, but he can do it if there is early intervention, emotional work, and support networks. It is not enough to punish, we must understand in order to transform," he emphasizes.

In this sense, the specialist explains that in these cases, a comprehensive approach that combines community therapy, emotional accompaniment in detention centers, and reintegration programs that truly offer alternatives is always functional.

"If the State continues to treat youth violence only as a police problem, the cycle will not be broken. We need policies that embrace prevention from childhood and emotional reconstruction from adolescence. Only then will we stop seeing headlines about young people who, instead of fulfilling dreams, are serving sentences."