The 'dark figure' of corruption refers to the group of corruption victims who refrained from lodging formal complaints with authorities. This concept undescores a gap in information that exists regarding the true extent of corruption, thereby limiting policy options to address the phenomenon.
In this work, the ‘dark figure’ of corruption in Sonora is taken up and the practices in government organizations that affect the reasons of citizens for not reporting are analyzed. For this, complementary techniques are used in order to analyze the procedures for citizen complaints of corruption and the actors involved in said procedures, in the context of the Government of the State of Sonora, during the period 2015-2020.
The problem is addressed using the conceptual framework of 'administrative burdens', to identify the stages and activities that public servants experience as onerous and that impact the decision not to report by citizens who are victims of corruption. Likewise, the framework provided by the 'new institutionalism' was applied in the practices within the competent government organizations to receive and process corruption complaints.
As a result of this research, it was found that administrative burdens produce inefficiency in the organization and, consequently, generate a scenario where impunity for corruption is institutionalized. Likewise, it was found that public policies for the punitive fight against corruption have not taken up this problem in a particular way, therefore perpetuating citizen apathy towards filing complaints.
