Crime, Violence, and Justice in Latin America

Description

This book asks why crime and violence persist in Latin America at extreme levels and why the states have not been able to more effectively solve this problem that dominates the lives of many millions of Latin Americans. Informed by diverse disciplinary backgrounds, the book brings together a team of regional experts to discuss research-based explanations on some of Latin America’s most pressing criminal and violent issues distressing the rule of law. First, it examines old and new forms of observing crime upon perpetrators and victimized communities. Second, it explores the geographies of urban and rural violence and the entangled politics following organized criminality. Third, it questions how the transfer of policy knowledge and expertise reshapes local security governance, and, more importantly, critically examines the problems in implementing foreign models and paradigms in the Latin American context. Finally, it exposes the everchanging scenario of policy-making and prosecuting crime and homicide. Crime, Violence, and Justice in Latin America provides new themes and novel trends on what crime and violence mean in the eyes of observers, perpetrators, policymakers, governmental officials, and victims. It is an important acquisition for policy makers and academics alike. Cover Half Title Series Title Copyright Contents List of Figures List of Tables List of Contributors 1 Introduction: Crime, Violence, and Justice in Latin America Part 1 Logics of Crime 2 Reflections on Youth, Norms, and Violence in Colombia’s Criminal Underworld 3 Gangs and Criminal Governance in El Salvador Part 2 Geographies of Violence: Urban and Rural Scenarios 4 The War on Criminality in Rio de Janeiro: Pacifying Unruly Territories? 5 Micro-dynamics and Political Economy of the Criminal War in Tierra Caliente, Mexico 6 Organized Crime and Political Mobilization Along Honduras’ Drug Routes Part 3 Circulation of Policy Knowledge 7 Experts, Elites, and the Making of Safe Cities in Guatemala 8 Why Does Colombia Export Security Expertise? Security Cooperation Between Status and Bureaucracy 9 Sí Ex-Militares, No Ex-Policías: Military Fetishism in Mexico’s Private Security Industry Part 4 Criminal Justice and Homicide Investigation 10 Between Delegation and Strategic Defection: Police, the Judiciary, and the Politics of Criminal Investigation in Argentina 11 On Homicide Rates: Sketching an Analytical Framework From the Brazilian Case 12 CSI in the Tropics: Evaluating Team Coordination for Homicide Investigation in Bogotá, Colombia 13 Final Remarks: Security in Latin America Post-COVID-19 Index