Criminality, Public Security, and the Challenge to Democracy in Latin America: Labor, Migration, Community, and Family: Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies

As new democratic regimes take root in Latin America, two of the most striking developments have been a dramatic rise in crime rates and increased perception of insecurity among its citizens. The contributors to this book offer a collective assessment of some of the causes for the alarming rise in criminal activity in the region. They also explore the institutional obstacles that states confront in the effort to curb criminality and build a fairer and more efficient criminal justice system; the connections between those obstacles and larger sociopolitical patterns; and the challenges that those patterns present for the consolidation of democracy in the region. The chapters offer both close studies of restricted regions in Latin America and broader examinations of the region as a whole.
“The dramatic rise in reported criminality and citizen insecurity is one of the most often-mentioned yet least researched aspects of contemporary Latin America. This valuable compendium draws on recent empirical data, uneven and incomplete but nonetheless illuminating, as well as on comparative analysis, to discuss the sources and characteristics of crime in Latin America and its impact on democratization, the rule of law and institutional strength. The authors go beyond mere description and denunciation to develop better shared understanding of criminal activity and of how best to combat it. An important contribution.” —Abraham F. Lowenthal, Professor of International Relations, University of Southern California