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latin america
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691 total results foundAuthor: Thouni, Francisco E. Title: The Impact of Organized Crime on Democratic Governance in Latin America Summary: Organized crime in Colombia is today more complex, diversified and sophisticated than when the cocaine industry started. Indeed, the illegal industry has been a catalyst that aggravated many of the main social conflicts of the country and encouraged the growth of organized crime. Organized crime has become a great obstacle to democratic governance in Colombia. We can say that the Mexican state is losing the war against drug trafficking and that therefore it must radically change its strategy because of the following: the spike in executions, the exponential increase in U.S. aid, the increased presence of the armed forces in the fight against drug trafficking and in public security in high risk cities, the transformation of Juarez into the most dangerous city in the world, increasing cocaine consumption and the sentiments that Mexico could become a failed state. The management, administration and overall control of public security matters and, amongst these, combating organized crime, as well as the organization and running of the police system remain in the hands of the police themselves, generating a sort of "police-ification" of public security. In Brazil, Paraguay and to a lesser extent in Uruguay this process has also included a strong tendency to incorporate the Armed Forces in the "war on organized crime", all prompted by the failings of the police system in tackling the problem. If Unasur is to be defined as an integration scheme and a successful one, certain basic questions have to be answered in the short-term: how is integration being defined-what are we talking about? The promotion of inter-regional dialogues, for instance between Unasur and the EU, could contribute to this process regarding three main issues: security and defense; security and democratic governance; and security, organized crime and transnational violence. Details: Berlin: Department for Latin America and the Caribbean, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, 2010. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 4, 2011 at: http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/07386.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 121237 |
Author: Carvalho, Ilona Szabo de Title: Latin America Awakes: A Review of the New Drug Policy Debate Summary: Latin America is confronted with astonishing levels of organised and interpersonal violence, much of it connected to illicit narcotics production and trafficking and the so-called "war on drugs". There is evidence, however, of mounting resistance to the global drug control regime and its narrow emphasis on suppressing supply, chiefly through enforcement measures. This report considers how changes under way in Latin America are challenging the foundations of this regime. Over the past decade two independent commissions - the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy and the Global Commission on Drug Policy - have broken the taboo on debating alternative drug policies. Both commissions have emphasised a paradigm shift from repressive approaches to more preventive interventions that focus on harm reduction and citizen security. Emboldened by these commissions' recommendations, Latin American leaders from across the political spectrum are currently discussing a more balanced approach to drug policy. Some governments are experimenting with legislation and regulatory models that are tailored to their countries' local realities and needs. These and other efforts have potentially dramatic implications not just for drug policy in Latin America, but globally. Details: Oslo, Norway: NOREF (Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Center, 2013. 12p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 1, 2013 at: http://www.peacebuilding.no/var/ezflow_site/storage/original/application/cec0c2d61be4326b2038452c8a98a4f9.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Policy (Latin America) Shelf Number: 131577 |
Author: Ostler, Sophia Title: Coca Leaf: A Political Dilemma? Summary: For fifty years the World's attitude to and treatment of the coca leaf and coca farmers has been controlled by the UN Drugs Conventions beginning with the Convention of 1961 which prohibited the production, possession and purchase of the coca leaf as well as cocaine. The assertion of this report is that the illegal status of the coca leaf is based upon a misinterpretation of science, first of all in 1950 with the publication of the misleading study of the Commission of Enquiry on the Coca Leaf; and much later with the blocking of the publication of a report in 1995 by the World Health Organisation (WHO) which made abundantly clear that the coca leaf itself has "no negative health effects". ormally, coca leaf can be used for medicinal and scientific purposes, as prescribed by the 1961 Single Convention. It can also be used as a flavouring agent, as long as all the controlled alkaloids are removed. However because coca leaf contains the cocaine alkaloid, the consumer countries had a choice: either invest in the strengthening of the government and judicial systems of the producer countries and allow coca leaf to remain a legal product; or include coca leaf within the Conventions and invest in a war on drugs with massive weapons sales and fumigation programmes. The US, in particular, chose the latter course. During the past 50 years, fragile government institutions and judicial systems in some Latin American countries have been further weakened and corrupted by wealthy criminals whose fortunes have been inflated by the cocaine trade. This report does not, however, seek to comment upon the status of cocaine. The adverse consequences for coca farmers of the application of the UN Conventions to coca leaf cannot be overstated. They have inhibited important research into the potential of the coca leaf for farmers and communities, particularly in the Andean nations. The policy of spraying coca leaf farms in Colombia has caused appalling poverty. Also, the temptation for poor farmers and their families to work for the drug barons has been and continues to be irresistible while few, if any, alternatives are available. The WHO study of 1995 concluded that the coca leaf has positive therapeutic, cultural and social functions for indigenous Andean populations. We need to understand the full range of possibilities and the taxation potential of the range of products based upon the coca leaf, but this will be problematic while coca remains a controlled substance with the formal UN position being that it is harmful and addictive. If countries do legalise coca production in their own countries, as in Bolivia, then the implications of the fragile government institutions for the production of legal coca leaf products while prohibiting the production of cocaine need to be fully assessed and addressed. The rule of law and government institutions, most particularly those in the security and judicial sectors, will need to be strengthened before real progress can be made to enable the Andean Countries to benefit from a legal market in coca leaf products. Details: London: All Party Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy Reform for Drug Policy Reform (APPG - UK), 2013. 33p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 6, 2013 at: http://www.undrugcontrol.info/images/stories/documents/coca-leaf-political-dilemma.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Latin America Keywords: Coca Leaf (Latin America) Shelf Number: 131586 |
Author: Coelho, Isaias Title: Financing Public Security: Tax and Non-tax Instruments to Finance Citizen Security and Crime Prevention Summary: Drawing on the innovative sources of financing for public security that have developed in Latin American and the Caribbean in recent years, this paper reviews the main revenue instruments that can be used to finance various aspects of citizen security. The paper focuses on the structure of financing for the security budget and does not attempt to provide an assessment of expenditure needs and efficiency. If an in-depth country analysis concludes that more resources are needed, the paper provides a guideline on how to think about the merits of different new financing instruments and of earmarking these funds Details: Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2013. 34p. Source: Internet Resource: Policy Brief No. IDB-PB-189: Accessed November 6, 2013 at: http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=37719382 Year: 2013 Country: Latin America Keywords: Costs of Crime Shelf Number: 131597 |
Author: Corbacho, Ana Title: Crime and Erosion of Trust: Evidence for Latin America Summary: Crime has tangible economic costs. It also has less understood and likely sizable intangible costs. In particular, widespread crime has the potential to weaken trust between citizens and institutions, undermine government reform efforts, and become an obstacle to development. Yet, the impact of crime on trust remains relatively unexplored in the literature. This paper analyzes the potential interrelationship between individual victimization and several measures of trust, including trust in formal public institutions and trust in informal private networks. It is based on a representative sample of individuals in 19 countries in Latin America. The empirical strategy is intended to mitigate overt biases and assess sensitivity to hidden biases. The results show that victimization has a substantial negative effect on trust in the local police but no robust effect on informal institutions. Governments may henceforth need to redouble efforts to reduce victimization and the resulting erosion of trust in public institutions. Details: Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2012. 38p. Source: Internet Resource: IDB working paper series; 344)Accessed March 12, 2014 at: http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=37071808 Year: 2012 Country: Latin America Keywords: Police Legitimacy Shelf Number: 131866 |
Author: Nobel Women's Initiative Title: From Survivors to Defenders: Women Confronting Violence in Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala Summary: From January 21 to January 31, 2012, a women's rights fact-finding mission traveled to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. The delegation was organized by the Nobel Women's Initiative, JASS (Just Associates) and prominent national organizations that formed host committees in each country, and led by Nobel Laureates Jody Williams and Rigoberta Menchu Tum. The purpose of the trip was to gather evidence of the impact of escalating violence in the region on women and women's rights, assess the role and response of governments, and acknowledge and evaluate ways of supporting women who are organizing to protect themselves and their communities. The combined experience of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, JASS and long-time activists on the delegation provided a strong basis for assessing the crisis in violence and human rights in these three countries. The delegation built on the extensive organizing efforts and relationships with diverse women human rights defenders and organizations that have been established by JASS' Mesoamerica team. This platform of trust enabled us to gather first-hand information from frontline women human rights defenders who are facing great risk as a result of their work. Moreover, these exchanges meant that the delegation's visit also contributed to strengthening the alliances that are so critical to women's survival and safety. Of all the countries in the region, the delegation chose to visit Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala because these nations show alarming increases in violence against women over the past years, with evidence of the negligence of governments in protecting its citizens and direct participation in acts of violence. Although these countries are not currently involved in open warfare, the massive deployment of military and police forces in all three has gravely affected civil society and spurred a rise in violence and violation of human rights, with particular impact on the lives and rights of women. Over the course of ten days, we met with a number of government officials and representatives of international organizations. Most importantly, we gathered evidence and heard testimonies from over 200 women survivors of violence and human rights defenders from organizations that have been working against violence for decades. Building on JASS' and host committees' relationships, many women agreed to travel at great risk from cities and villages across their country to tell the stories of their struggles for the first time in an international forum. The bravery of the women we met provided us with an unprecedented opportunity to combine the human element of personal experience recounted face to face, with studies, statistics and government declarations. We found that the line between survivors and defenders has been erased as survivors of violence take on the role of defenders. Importantly, the networks and protocols for protection that have been built over the last few years by the host committees with JASS' support, ensured that these brave women could safely return to their communities. JASS and the Nobel Women's Initiative will continue to support the women of Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala as they move forward. Details: Ottawa, ONT: Nobel Women's Initiative, 2012. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 22, 2014 at: http://nobelwomensinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Report_AmericasDelgation-2012.pdf?ref=18 Year: 2012 Country: Latin America Keywords: Human Rights Violations Shelf Number: 132118 |
Author: Giacomello, Corina Title: Women, Drug Offenses and Penitentiary Systems in Latin America Summary: The number of women in prison for drug-related offenses has increased since the 1980s, rising sharply since the 1990s. This has occurred worldwide, and Latin America is no exception. Women increasingly enter drug-trafficking circuits as consumers, low-level dealers and local (including in prison), national and international transporters. In various countries around the world, the female penitentiary population has grown faster than the male, although women are still the minority. This paper analyzes the roles played by women in criminal networks in Latin America and the means by which they become involved, highlighting the ways in which gender relations and socio-economic factors shape the configuration of international drug trafficking networks and women's participation. It also critically examines the main characteristics of the region's penitentiary systems from a gender standpoint. Finally, it offers a series of conclusions and proposals aimed at promoting a review and reform of drug and penitentiary policies. Details: London: International Drug Policy Consortium, 2013. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: IDPC Briefing Paper: Accessed May 5, 2014 at: http://idpc.net/publications/2013/11/idpc-briefing-paper-women-drug-offenses-and-penitentiary-systems-in-latin-america Year: 2013 Country: Latin America Keywords: Criminal Networks Shelf Number: 132236 |
Author: Youngers, Coletta A. Title: The Drug Policy Reform Agenda in the Americas. Version 2. Summary: Latin America has emerged at the vanguard of efforts to promote debate on drug policy reform. For decades, Latin American governments largely followed the drug control policies and programs of Washington's so-called war on drugs. Yet two parallel trends have resulted in a dramatic change in course: the emergence of left-wing governments that have challenged Washington's historic patterns of unilateralism and interventionism and growing frustration with the failure of the prohibitionist drug control model put forward by the US government. In recent years, the regional debate on drug policy issues -- long dormant -- has surged as evident in media coverage, renewed interest on the part of academia, the emergence of grassroots initiatives such as the cannabis reform movement, and perhaps most importantly, calls for reconsideration of prevailing drug policies by a range of local and national officials. For the first time, sitting presidents are questioning the underlining premises of the international drug control paradigm and calling for debate on alternative approaches. Their actions have had repercussions internationally, as those presidents have successfully pushed for debate within the Organization of American States (OAS) and the United Nations (UN). At the national level, numerous countries have implemented or are debating drug policy reforms. Most significantly, two countries have boldly challenged the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. Bolivia is the first country to denounce and return to the convention with a reservation, in this case with regards to coca leaf use within its own territory. And the Uruguayan government has proposed creating legal, state-controlled markets for cannabis. Uruguayan officials are carefully watching the regulatory frameworks being put in place in the U.S. states of Colorado and Washington where in November 2012 voters approved cannabis legalization referendums. At the local level, officials such as Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro are forging ahead with innovative harm reduction-oriented programs designed to provide access to health services and treatment to drug users and to reduce crime and violence. However, the obstacles to reform - at the national, regional and international levels - loom large. Efforts to rewrite drug laws in Argentina and Ecuador, for example, are floundering in the face of opposition from powerful conservative political forces and some religious sectors. More often than not, public opinion continues to support mano dura, or hardline, approaches as a result of popular perceptions and fears that more flexible drug policies will lead to increased drug use and violence. Such fears are fanned by sensationalist or biased media coverage, as well as very real problems of citizen insecurity and violence in the poor neighborhoods where illicit drug use tends to be most prevalent. Regionally, while key Latin American leaders have spoken out in favor of reform, many others have remained silent or wedded to present policy. And internationally, a key group of countries, including the United States and Canada, are vociferously opposed to taking any action outside of the confines of the existing international drug control conventions. Yet while drug policy reforms will no doubt advance slowly, major fissures are evident in the international drug control architecture so carefully crafted by the United States and other countries. Perhaps nowhere is that more evident than in Latin America. After analyzing the regional debate, national level reforms and impediments to those reforms, this report concludes with concrete policy recommendations that should be undertaken to maintain the momentum and advance drug policy debates and reforms in the region Details: London: International Drug Policy Consortium, 2013. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: IDPC Briefing Paper: Accessed May 12, 2014 at: http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/64663568/library/IDPC-briefing-paper_Drug-policy-reform-in-Latin-America_V2_ENGLISH.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Abuse and Addiction Shelf Number: 132333 |
Author: International Crisis Group Title: Corridor of Violence: the Guatemala-Honduras Border Summary: Competition between criminal groups over drug routes has made the frontier between Guatemala and Honduras one of the most violent areas in Central America, with murder rates among the highest in the world. In the absence of effective law enforcement, traffickers have become de facto authorities in some sectors. Crisis Group's latest report, Corridor of Violence: The Guatemala-Honduras Border, examines the regional dynamics that have allowed criminal gangs to thrive and outlines the main steps necessary to prevent further violence as well as to advance peaceful economic and social development. The report's major findings and recommendations are: - The border corridor includes hotly contested routes for transporting drugs to the U.S. Traffickers, with their wealth and firepower, dominate some portions. On both sides of the border, violence, lawlessness and corruption are rampant, poverty rates and unemployment are high, and citizens lack access to state services. - The arrest of local drug lords has been a mixed blessing to local populations, as the fracturing of existing groups has allowed a new generation of sometimes more violent criminals to emerge. - To prevent further violence, an urgent shift in national policies is needed. The governments should send not just troops and police to border regions, but also educators, community organisers and social and health workers. If criminal structures are to be disrupted and trust in the state restored, these regions need credible, legitimate actors - public and private - capable of providing security, accountability, jobs and hope for the future. - Guatemala and Honduras should learn from other countries facing similar security threats. The Borders for Prosperity Plan in Colombia and the Binational Border Plan in Ecuador and Peru can serve as examples for economic and social development in insecure areas. The U.S., Latin American countries and multilateral organisations should provide funds, training and technical support to embattled border communities to help them prevent violence and strengthen local institutions via education and job opportunities. Details: Brussels: International Crisis Group, 2014. 37p. Source: Internet Resource: Latin America Report No. 52: Accessed June 16, 2014 at: http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/latin-america/Guatemala/052-corridor-of-violence-the-guatemala-honduras-border.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Latin America Keywords: Border Security Shelf Number: 132467 |
Author: Morlachetti, Alejandro Title: Comprehensive National Child Protection Systems: Legal Basis and Current Practice in Latin America and the Caribbean Summary: The present document offers a comparative study of the legal child protection codes and practices in Latin America and the Caribbean, both in terms of the legal grounds for establishing a Comprehensive National Child Protection System (NCPS) and as a basis for examining current child-protection practice, institutions, functions and powers established within such legal frameworks. The study also includes an analysis of the status of implementation and start-up of NCPSs in compliance with national mandates in four countries of Latin America and the Caribbean: Uruguay, representing the Southern Cone, Ecuador in the Andean Region, El Salvador for Central America, and Jamaica representing the Caribbean. The wide diversity of organizational structures responsible for protecting the rights of children and adolescents in various countries justifies the conduct of this study, which is intended to give a general overview of existing systems and establish some conceptual elements to support the discussion of possible future models of a comprehensive child protection system for children and adolescents. Details: Santiago: United Nations, 2013. 99p. Source: Internet Resource: http://www.eclac.cl/publicaciones/xml/8/52058/Comprehensivenationalchildprotection.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Latin America Keywords: Child Protection Shelf Number: 132604 |
Author: Youngers, Coletta A. Title: In Search of Rights: Drug Users and Government Responses in Latin America Summary: This report presents the results of the most recent study by the Research Consortium on Drugs and the Law (Colectivo de Estudios Drogas y Derecho, CEDD). The study, entitled "In Search of Rights: Drug Users and State Responses in Latin America" analyzes States-- responses to the consumption of illicitly used drugs, focusing on two key areas; Criminal justice responses and health responses; Vin eight Latin American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay. An international consensus appears to be emerging that drug use is not a criminal matter, but a health issue. Nevertheless, as shown by the country investigations that are part of this study, Latin American government responses to the use of illicit substances remain predominantly punitive and handled through the criminal justice system; it is through judicial, rather than healthcare, institutions that states address the illicit use of drugs and drug users. Even in countries in which drug use is not a crime, persistent criminalization of drug users is found. Treating drug use (and users) as a criminal matter is problematic for several reasons. First, as an earlier study by CEDD shows, responses that criminalize drug users are often ultimately more hazardous for the users; health than the drug use itself and do not help decrease levels of use (either problem or non-problem use).2 Second, as this report shows, the criminal justice response contributes to a climate of stigmatization of and discrimination against users, reducing the likelihood that police and the judicial system will take an impartial attitude toward them. Third, the criminalization of drug users is a poor use of public resources in both the public security and health sectors. Finally, this approach to drug use; through criminal justice institutions; violates various fundamental rights of users, including the rights to health, information, personal autonomy and self-determination. All of this violates various national and international human rights norms that States are obligated to uphold. The following is a summary of the studies; key findings: - Most public policies related to drug use in the countries studied take a punitive and prohibitionist approach that does not distinguish among different types of use and/or among substances or users; they are therefore inadequate for addressing the harm caused by problem drug use. - In all of the countries studied, there is strong discrimination against and stigmatization of drug users. Even in countries where use of those substances is not criminalized, we found that consumers are often treated as criminals. This leaves users outside the reach of health systems. - In all the countries studied, we found that drug users are criminally prosecuted. In Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico and Bolivia, drug use is not a crime. Nevertheless, according to the study in Argentina, in a sample from 2011, nearly 75 percent of the cases involving drug law violations that were initiated by security forces in the Federal Criminal Court in the city of Buenos Aires were for possession of drugs for personal use. In Ecuador, 5,103 people are presently incarcerated for possession of narcotic or psychotropic substances, of a total of 6,467 convicted on drug-related charges. In Mexico, 140,860 people nationwide were arrested for drug use between 2009 and May 2013, and investigations were opened in 53,769 cases in the federal system during that period. In Bolivia, 6,316 people were arrested for drug possession (mainly cannabis) between 2005 and 2011, although possession is not classified as a crime. - The criminal justice response puts drug users in a vulnerable position before the authorities, exposing them to corruption, extortion, physical abuse, sexual abuse, arbitrary detention and other violations of their fundamental rights. - Largely because of the stigmatization of drug use, users suffer constant violations of their fundamental rights, including the rights to health, self-determination and free personal development, the right not to suffer discrimination, and the right to information and due process. - The governments studied emphasize controlling the supply of illicitly used drugs over addressing drug use, or demand, which has a negative impact on the ability to provide adequate social and public-health responses to drug use and contributes to the violation of present and future users; rights to health. - There is a marked paucity of information about consumption and a lack of systematization of that information and, in some cases there are methodological and conceptual problems in the gathering of information about drug use. That often leads to an exaggeration of the problem of consumption of illicitly used drugs and hinders the formulation and development of informed policies based on empirical information. - By emphasizing a criminal justice approach over a health-related approach, governments have abdicated their responsibility to users who need treatment, leaving the private sector as the main provider of treatment and rehabilitation services. We found that States often do not regulate and/or oversee private centers, many of which operate informally, using treatments that have no scientific basis. Abstinence-based treatment models predominate in both the public and private sectors and there is little emphasis on harm reduction programs, which have proven more effective in mitigating the negative effects of illicit use of drugs. - Throughout the region, drug users; even when their use is not problematic; can be subjected to treatment involuntarily, forcibly or semi-forcibly. This means that scarce public-health resources that could be used for people who do want and need treatment are used for people who neither need nor want it. Given that situation, the proposal of drug courts offers an alternative to incarceration. One concern, however, is that this proposal is seen as a healthcare response, when its components are still of a criminal justice nature and risk reproducing all of the problems within the criminal justice system with regard to drug use. Details: Mexico: Research Consortium on Drugs and the Law (CEDD), 170p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 10, 2014 at: http://drogasyderecho.org/assets/full-report-english.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Abuse and Addiction (Latin America) Shelf Number: 132637 |
Author: Hanna, Chaswell A. Title: Reducing Murders in the Bahamas: A Strategic Plan Based on Empirical Research Summary: This study is a comprehensive analysis of local murder and involves three main objectives. First, Chapters 1 through 6 present a descriptive analysis of murder incidents that occurred within The Commonwealth of The Bahamas between 2005 and 2009. This time frame will be referred to as the study period. A host of variables including incidence, victims, suspects, motives, detection and conviction have been collected and analyzed from case files and presented. Although specifically focused on the study period, data for other years and time periods will also be discussed and duly indicated. Second, Chapters 7 and 8 present a comprehensive review of literature on the issue of homicide prevention and way by which detection rates can be improved. Best practices and innovative preventative programs devised and/or adopted by law enforcement agencies throughout the world are examined and discussed. Careful attention is given to the results of scholarly evaluation of such programs to determine the extent of their effectiveness. Finally, Chapter 9 presents a Murder Reduction Strategy for The Bahamas based on the findings of this study. This strategic plan proposes the introduction of several police initiatives, policy adjustments, legislative amendments and community-based programs to reduce specific types of murders. The strategy also aims to add value to the decision making process of police administrators and executives. Details: Nassau: Royal Bahamas Police Force, 2011. 118p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 28, 2014 at: http://www.bahamaslocal.com/files/Reducing_Murders_in_The_Bahamas.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Latin America Keywords: Crime Prevention Shelf Number: 132800 |
Author: Dugato, Marco Title: Measuring OC in Latin America. A methodology for developing and validating scores and composite indicators for measuring OC at national and subnational level Summary: The aim of this working paper is to develop and test a methodology for measuring Organized Crime (henceforth OC) in selected countries of the Latin American region. This study is one of the first systematic attempts to obtain reliable and comparable measurements of OC presence and threats in that region. The outcomes will provide a more comprehensive view on how to measure and analyze OC today in Latin America, taking the regional specificities of the phenomenon into account. Moreover, creating a valid measurement of OC has important policy implications, since valid indicators may improve the effectiveness of government and enforcement actions. Details: Milan, IT: Transcrime, 2014. 53p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 29, 2014 at: http://www.transcrime.it/pubblicazioni/measuring-oc-in-latin-america/ Year: 2014 Country: Latin America Keywords: Corruption Shelf Number: 132813 |
Author: Sandoval-Hernandez, Andres Title: Exploring School Resilience to Violence in Mexico and Colombia. An analysis using data from ICCS 2009 Summary: Violence and organized crime (e.g. drug trafficking and kidnaping) are among the most persistent problems across Latin American countries, especially in Mexico and Colombia. Many cities and regions in these two countries are recognized as violent places. For example according to The Eighth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems, Mexico and Colombia ranked first and third place in the total recorded intentional homicides committed with a firearm, respectively (UNODC, 2005). According to Reimers (2007) growing up in a society with high levels of violence has implications for the development of citizenship competencies and attitudes. Research over the past 15 years has consistently shown exposure to violence, as a witness or a victim, is strongly associated to aggressive, delinquent and violent behavior (Flannery, et al., 2007). Data from the ICCS 2009 Latin American Report (Schulz, Ainley, Friedman and Lietz, 2011) reveals that more than one third of students experienced physical aggression at school during the month prior to the survey in Colombia (33%) and Mexico (45%). According to the same report, in both countries, the promotion of peaceful relationships among students is explicitly recognized as one of the main aims of civic and citizenship education. The question is then; to what extent it is possible to prevent violence among adolescents who are immersed in a violent society? More specifically, can schools play a role in reducing the risk of violent behavior in their students? Resiliency against violence is a useful concept for exploring these questions. Details: Amsterdam: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), 2013. 10p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 30, 2014 at: http://www.iea.nl/fileadmin/user_upload/IRC/IRC_2013/Papers/IRC-2013_Sandoval-Hernandez.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Latin America Keywords: Educational Programs Shelf Number: 132845 |
Author: Pousadela, Ines M. Title: What Works in the Criminal Justice System (And What Doesn't): A 2000-11 Update on Policing, Courts, and Corrections Summary: As crime has become a serious cause of concern in most of Latin America, the "nothing works" era in criminal justice has given way to a shift towards evidence-based crime prevention in North America and Europe. The program evaluations conducted so far have yielded growing knowledge about what works, what does not work and what is promising, especially regarding recidivism outcomes. However, policymaking in Latin America remains ignorant to the available evidence, and most crime prevention policies, practices and programs are still being based on tradition, opinions, ideology, trends and anecdotal evidence rather than scientifically validated studies. On the basis of a review of the current literature on evidence-based crime prevention and an extensive search, analysis and systematization of the most recent program evaluations in policing, courts and corrections, this paper summarizes a series of lessons for Latin America and proposes a research and policy agenda for the region. Details: Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2014. 17p. Source: Internet Resource: IDB Policy Brief No. 227: Accessed August 4, 2014 at: http://publications.iadb.org/bitstream/handle/11319/6544/ICS%20PB%20What%20Works%20in%20the%20Criminal%20Justice%20System.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2014 Country: Latin America Keywords: Crime (Latin America) Shelf Number: 132897 |
Author: Rozo, Sandra Title: On the Unintended Consequences of Anti-Drug Eradication Programs in Producer Countries Summary: This paper studies the effects of the biggest anti-drug program ever applied in a drug-producer country. I use a unique and rich data set with 1-square-kilometer satellite information on the location of coca crops between 2000 and 2010 in Colombia to identify the effects of spraying herbicides on coca production and on the welfare conditions of coca-producing areas. I exploit the exogenous variation created by governmental restrictions to spraying in protected areas (i.e., natural parks and indigenous territories) to identify the effects of the program. My results suggest that there is only a quarter reduction in coca grown per hectare sprayed, whereas there are sizable unintended negative effects on the welfare conditions of the treated areas. Specifically, if the share of area sprayed in a given municipality increases by 1%, poverty rates increase 4 percentage points, school dropout increases 0.82 percentage points, infant mortality rates increase 1.26 percentage points, and homicide rates increase 4.23 percentage points. Although some of these effects revert 3 years after the treatment implementation, the effects on poverty rates and infant mortality seem permanent. Details: Los Angeles: California Center for Population Research, University of California -- Los Angeles, 2014. 50p. Source: Internet Resource: On-Line Working Paper Series: Accessed August 11, 2014 at: http://papers.ccpr.ucla.edu/papers/PWP-CCPR-2013-016/PWP-CCPR-2013-016. Year: 2014 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Control (Latin America) Shelf Number: 132976 |
Author: de Rozas, Diego M. Fleitas Ortiz Title: Crime and Violence in Latin America and the Caribbean: Regional Country Profiles Summary: Latin America and the Caribbean is one of the regions most affected by violence and crime, but at the same time, has little available information about this problem. When data exist, it is not always presented in a comprehensive way, and usually suffers from reliability problems. Consequently, this publication intends to provide detailed and comprehensive information about the problem of insecurity in the region, using three different data sources. This will help to ensure not only a broad perspective but also to compare and validate the scope and quality of the different sources. One reason for that approach is that another of the publication's goals is precisely to contribute to a better understanding of the characteristics and limitations of security data. This document is a translation of the publication written in Spanish "Delito y Violencia en America Latina y el Caribe", where the reader can find a complete analysis, methodological notes, and a statistic Annex. Whereas this English version contains only the introduction, with a description of the main findings, and the "Country Profiles", which provide detailed information about each country. One of the information sources in this work is the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which primarily receives crime statistics from National Polices or Justice Ministries. Another source is the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which collects mortality data from each country, including violent deaths, provided by national health systems, with a detail of event characteristics, as well as the victims' age and sex. The last source was the Americas Barometer survey - Lapop, coordinated by Vanderbilt University in 2012, which contains questions on personal victimization and citizens' opinions on security, justice and the police in 24 countries from the region. The survey contains a sample of 38.631 cases. Regarding the three sources, we not only verified the internal consistency of their data, but we also compared them in order to identify problems or understand their differences. In the Lapop and PAHO cases, we also worked directly with their databases. In addition, this paper conducts statistical analyses to look for tentative explanations of, among other things, victimization levels, fear of crime, trust in the community and the police. We control these variables among themselves as well as with socio-demographic factors at the individual and aggregate (country) levels of analysis, conducting a cross-sectional comparison of countries, which can be found in the full Spanish version. When presenting this complex amount of information, we intended that the content be interesting to both academics and policy makers, as well as for a lay audience. Therefore, in order to facilitate its comprehension, the literature and analyses used have an intermediate level of difficulty. Also to this end, we left some coefficients or statistical analyses in footnotes or in the Annexes. Details: Buenos Aires: Associacion para Politicas Publicas, 2014. 35p. Source: Internet Resource: English Summary: Accessed August 11, 2014 at: http://www.app.org.ar/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Crime-and-Violence-in-Latin-America-and-the-Caribbean.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Latin America Keywords: Crime Statistics (Latin America; Caribbean) Shelf Number: 132983 |
Author: Giacomello, Corina Title: Proposals for alternatives to criminal prosecution and incarceration for drug-related offenses in Latin America Summary: Latin America is immersed in a prison epidemic. The so-called "war on drugs" and harsher criminal penalties underlie the increase in the prison population. "One-size-fits-all" policies and severe sanctions have left the region's countries in a prison crisis that threatens future generations. Instead of proposing a single model, therefore, multiple pathways should be explored. This briefing by the International Drug Policy Consortium focuses on the judicial and prison systems, seeking to offer a variety of experiences that demonstrate how various situations can be addressed: occasional and recreational use, dependent or problem use of substances, small-scale drug dealing by vulnerable members of the trafficking chain (dependent users who sell for survival), and differences among the different levels of leadership in dealing and international trafficking. Details: London: International Drug Policy Consortium, 2014. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: IDPC Briefing Paper: Accessed October 6, 2014 at: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/64663568/library/IDPC-briefing-paper_Alternatives-to-incarceration-in-LA_ENGLISH.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Offenders Shelf Number: 133565 |
Author: Borraz, Fernando Title: Vigilante Justice and Police Protocols in the Latin American South Cone Summary: There is a wide debate worldwide, and particularly in Latin America with respect to citizen insecurity and the proliferation of more punitive claims from the society itself. In this article we analyze the attitude of the citizens belonging to the countries of the Latin American South Cone towards maintaining the law regarding persecuting and punishing criminals. In particular, we tackle the approval of vigilante justice in some circumstances and the justification of police procedures outside the law as a form of guaranteeing the capture of criminals. For this, we use the LAPOP (Latin American Public Opinion Project, Vanderbilt University) database from the year 2008. Analyzing the data using probit estimations, we observe that the approval of vigilante justice is related to the experience and particular situation of the respondent. In this sense, having been victimized in the last months and feeling unsafe in his or her own neighborhood increase the probability of taking that position regarding vigilantism. On the other side, sticking to police procedures is more strongly related to the general political beliefs and the level of concern for the respondents' insecurity. These findings indicate that the formation of these beliefs has a differential dynamic and that when actions outside the law have to be justified, this is distinguished based on the type of involved action and the actor who carries it forward. Details: Montevideo, Uruguay: Universidad de la República, 2013. 21p. Source: Internet Resource: Documento No. 09/13: Accessed October 8, 2014 at: http://www.fcs.edu.uy/archivos/0913.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Latin America Keywords: Crime Shelf Number: 134224 |
Author: United Nations Development Programme Title: Citizen Security with a Human Face: Evidence and Proposals for Latin America Summary: The HDR "Citizen Security with a Human Face: evidence and proposals for Latin America" reveals a paradox: in the past decade, the region experienced both economic growth and increased crime rates. Despite social improvements, Latin America remains the most unequal and most insecure region in the world. While homicide rates reduced in other regions, they increased in Latin America, which recorded over 100,000 murders per year, totaling more than a million from 2000-2010. While homicide rates stabilized and even declined in some parts of Latin America, it is still high: in 11 of the 18 assessed countries the rate is higher than 10 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, reaching epidemic levels. Moreover, the perception of security has worsened, with robberies hiking threefold in the last 25 years, says the regional HDR. Details: New York: United Nations Development Programme, 2013. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 24, 2014 at: http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/citizen_security_with_a_human_face_-executivesummary.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Latin America Keywords: Homicides (Latin America) Shelf Number: 133810 |
Author: Maiga, Aissata Title: New Frontiers: Russian-Speaking Organized Crime in Latin America Summary: Russian-speaking organized crime is capitalizing on and flourishing in the "permissive environment" of Latin American countries. Principally involved in drug trafficking and money laundering, it is also colluding effectively with local criminal cartels. The Kremlin has initiated collaborative steps to counter organized crime in the region, but initiatives from EU countries are so far largely lacking in a domain that requires greater international cooperation. Details: Nacka, Sweden: Institute for Security and Development Policy, 2013. 2p. Source: Internet Resource: Policy Brief No. 133: Accessed November 13, 2014 at: http://www.isdp.eu/images/stories/isdp-main-pdf/2013-maiga-kego-new-frontiers-russian-organized-crime-in-latin-america.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Latin America Keywords: Criminal Cartels Shelf Number: 134086 |
Author: Saavedra, Enrique Title: Invisible no more: Children of Incarcerated parents in Latin America and the Caribbean. Case study from Brazil, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Uruguay Summary: Over the past two decades, the number of people incarcerated in Latin America has skyrocketed, with more than 1.2 million prisoners overcrowding correctional facilities across the region. Accompanying this, we estimate that the number of children with an incarcerated parent in the region is currently around 1,5 to 1,9 million (see Appendix A for more details). This marginalized and vulnerable group of young people has been neglected by, and remained virtually "invisible" to public policies, programs and civil society. In order to assess the situation and needs of these children, and following the recommendations made by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child during its Day of General Debate in 2011, CWS, with the technical leadership of Uruguayan NGO Gurises partnered with organizations in Brazil, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua to conduct the first regional study of children with incarcerated parents. The participating organizations surveyed 193 children with an incarcerated parent (or adult referent), and 50 of these children and 46 of their caregivers or guardians were interviewed. 23 government officials and regional experts working in child protection were also surveyed. The results of this study demonstrate the profound impact that the incarceration of a parent has on the life of a child. Families face increased financial strains which force many children to work outside the home or assume adult roles in their household. Children undergo emotional changes, becoming sad, withdrawn or sick, and they face social stigmatization and discrimination in their communities. Their experience with police and the justice system typically creates a negative perception of these authorities, and these elements combine to alter the development of childrens' self-identity, leading some to develop identities based on resistance to existing social structures. Research confirms that maintaining the child-parent relationship during the incarceration is one of the best ways to help children cope with such difficulties. However, it is difficult for families to maintain such relationships when their only face-to-face interaction is through prison visits, where children must endure unhealthy prison conditions, invasive body searches, and mistreatment from prison guards. Government officials and experts working in the area acknowledge the vulnerability of this group of children, and provide important insight into their situation. They describe the justice and penal systems as "adult-centric," looking at matters only from the perspective of the adults involved. In fact, no country in the region even systematically documents or registers the number of children of prisoners. Without any idea of the scope of the problem, it is nearly impossible to create policies and programs to address it. Likewise, the judicial system does not account for the best interests of related children when it decides appropriate punishment for those convicted of crimes. While the legal rights and responsibilities of fathers and mothers are identical, some experts prioritize the issue of incarcerated mothers, particularly those whose children live with them in prison. It appears that the incarceration of a mother has a more dramatic impact on family dynamics and significantly increases vulnerability of children. Whether it is the mother or father that is convicted of a crime, the use of alternative punishments (eg. open and semi-open prisons) would lessen the negative impact on children. Likewise, improved coordination between state actors involved in the justice system and child protection would improve services and support to children of incarcerated parents. It is clear that governments are the main responsible of protecting the rights of all children, and that they should, in coordination with civil society, begin to develop policies, programs and initiatives that support and empower children of incarcerated parents. Details: Buenos Aires: CWS Regional Office Latin America and Caribbean and Gurises Unidos, 2013. 26p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 26, 2014 at: http://www.cwslac.org/en/docs/Invisible_no_more.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Latin America Keywords: Child Protection Shelf Number: 134264 |
Author: Bakrania, Shivit Title: Policy responses to criminal violence in Latin America and the Caribbean Summary: Mediation efforts between the 'maras' in El Salvador have led to a significant reduction in homicide rates. What other policy responses to gang and criminal violence, including but not limited to formal and informal mediation efforts, exist in Latin America and the Caribbean? What lessons can the donor community learn from them? Combatting the threat posed by transnational and domestic criminal organisations has become a critical concern of governments throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Ideas of how to reduce crime and organised violence in this region vary between those who advocate for state-security led approaches and those who argue for approaches that tackle the causes of crime and the factors that incentivise people to engage in risky behaviour (Basombrio & Dammert, 2013). Policy responses in Latin America and the Caribbean have been implemented at a range of levels, from local to regional, and have involved a range of different actors. The following lessons and recommendations were identified from the literature reviewed: - Several authors argue that state-security led approaches such as the mano dura (strong handed) approach in the northern triangle have been ineffective at reducing organised crime -Several authors recommend more comprehensive and preventative approaches -Several authors emphasise the importance of targeting preventative programmes -Initiatives should involve a broad range of stakeholders: The World Bank (2011) suggests an inclusive coalition of agencies and individuals across governments as well as civil society -Policies and programmes should be based upon facts and evidence: Basombrio & Dammert (2013) argue that policymakers in Latin America should examine lessons learned from previous successes and failures and take an evidence-based approach in order to implement effective, efficient, and just public policies in their countries. -Several authors suggest that criminal justice reform is needed in order to tackle organised violence effectively -The impacts of gang truces in Latin America and the Caribbean are as yet inconclusive A regional approach is needed: The World Bank (2011) argues that issues relating to organised crime, particularly in the areas of drug trafficking and firearms, transcend boundaries in Latin America and require a coordinated response. Details: GSDRC Research Helpdesk, 2013. 14p. Source: Internet Resource: Helpdesk Research Report: Accessed March 3, 2015 at: http://www.gsdrc.org/docs/open/HDQ934.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Latin America Keywords: Criminal Gangs Shelf Number: 134733 |
Author: Garzon Vergara, Juan Carlos Title: Fixing a broken system: Modernizing drug law enforcement in Latin America Summary: Despite efforts by governments in Latin America, illicit drugs continue to provide one of the largest incomes for criminal organizations, enabling them to penetrate and corrupt political and social institutions. Criminal organizations exploit the vulnerabilities of the state and take advantage of governments' inability to provide security to their citizens. With few exceptions, the weak capacity of Latin American governments is reflected in high rates of homicides, notorious levels of impunity, and the feeling of mistrust that citizens harbour regarding justice institutions and the police. Drug law enforcement in Latin America operates in a context of institutional fragility in which the "war on drugs" has mostly failed to reduce supply and demand, while generating new problems and vast collateral damage. The perverse incentives created by the prohibitionist approach in the face of a persistently strong market demand for drugs has been an important cause of violence and crime in many places. At the same time, state responses to repress this illegal market have serious negative side effects, but only a limited capacity to impact upon the drug chain. Given this reality, different voices are demanding changes in the way the state responds not only to the drug problem but also to the threat of multiple criminal economies that affect the everyday lives of the citizens. The assumption is that moving away from the "war on drugs" can contribute to de-escalating violence and crime and can deprive organized crime groups of resources. Key points - Drug law enforcement in Latin America operates in a context of institutional fragility in which the "war on drugs" has mostly failed to reduce supply and demand, while generating new problems and vast collateral damage. - The modernization of drug law enforcement can be a galvanizing force for changing the broader criminal justice system and perhaps show the way toward fixing a broken system. - The 4W-Challenge (Wrong assumptions; Wrong goals and indicators; Weak institutions; and Worse outcomes) outlines the four main challenges to modernize drug law enforcement in the region - In future law enforcement strategies violence reduction must be a priority and law enforcement measures should not cause additional harm. - The criminal justice system should be focused on the most prejudicial and dangerous criminals, those that have more resources and capacities to use violence and corruption. - Alternatives to incarceration should be developed for the weakest links in the drug trade. - "Success" should be measured not via process indicators (arrests, seizures, extraditions) but rather in terms of outcomes and the impact of policy upon societies(levels of corruption, public health and human security). - The United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on the drug problem in 2016 provides an opportunity to rethink drug law enforcement and its consequences for security and development. Details: Amsterdam: Transnational Institute, 2014. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Series on Legislative Reform of Drug Policies No. 29: Accessed March 11, 2015 at: http://www.tni.org/sites/www.tni.org/files/download/dlr29.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Enforcement Shelf Number: 134888 |
Author: Cohen, Mollie J. Title: Those with Darker Skin Report Slower Police Response Summary: From riots in Ferguson, Missouri to street protests in New York to the Twitter hashtag, #blacklivesmatter, and more, race relations and policing have captured national attention in the United States. Many voices are discussing the fact that African Americans trust the police less and give poorer evaluations of various aspects of police performance, compared to white North Americans (e.g., Brown and Coulter 1983, Van Ryzin et al. 2004, Newport 2014). What about the rest of the Americas? As Edward Telles and colleagues have convincingly demonstrated in the new book Pigmentocracies (2014), skin tone is associated with unequal opportunity and discrimination across the Americas. In this Topical Brief,1 we report on perceptions of police responsiveness in the Latin America and Caribbean region, with a particular focus on its relationship to skin tone. Details: Nashville: Latin American Public Opinion Project, AmericasBarometer, 2015. 6p. Source: Internet Resource: AmericasBarometer: Topical Brief - February 9, 2015: Accessed March 26, 2015 at: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/insights/ITB016en.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Latin America Keywords: Discrimination Shelf Number: 135067 |
Author: Wood, Charles H. Title: Quality of Democracy, Crime Victimization, and the Resilience of Political Culture in the Americas: Outline and Test of a Theory Summary: The idea that the upsurge in crime and violence in Latin America since the mid-1980s erodes the values, attitudes, and preferences deemed essential to democracy is a conclusion advanced by journalists and scholars, often with little supporting evidence. More problematic is the implicit assumption that crime affects all components of political culture equally, and that the crime effect is equal in all political environments. To address these limitations, we draw on the literatures on the quality of democracy and the attitudinal foundations of democracy to outline a theory that predicts that the corrosive effects of crime victimization on political culture will be comparatively low in high quality democracies, moderate in intermediate regimes, and pronounced in weak democracies. Using data for 20 countries in the 2010 Americas Barometer surveys, we show that people's commitment to the rule of law and their support for democracy is less vulnerable to the victimization effect in strong democracies, compared to intermediate and weak democracies, as predicted. Contrary to expectation, some features of mass political culture, such as people's trust in neighbors and in state institutions, are sensitive to the victimization effect, even in the more consolidated democratic regimes. Evidence that victimization reduces some democratic attitudes more than others, and the findings that show that the magnitude of the crime effect is mediated by the structural context suggest new directions in the study of crime, violence, and democracy in the Americas. Details: Nashville: Vanderbilt University, Latin American Public Opinion Project, 2011. 43p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 26, 2015 at: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/pdfs/Wood_Ribeiro_SmallGrant_Publish.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Latin America Keywords: Criminal Victimization Shelf Number: 135068 |
Author: Inter-American Development Bank Title: Crime and Violence Prevention in Latin America and the Caribbean: Evidence from IDB's Interventions Summary: As part of its duties, OVE regularly conducts ex post evaluations of the activities financed by the Bank. In this case, OVE is conducting an evaluation of the first generation of citizen security projects, approved before October 2009. These projects predate the Guidelines for Program Design and Execution in the Area of Civic Coexistence and Public Safety (GN-2535). The objective of the evaluation is primarily to assess these projects' contribution to the reduction of crime and violence in the countries in which they have been operating. A secondary objective is to determine their contribution to the knowledge on what is effective for reducing crime and violence. The evaluation methodology has two elements: First, whenever feasible, statistical analyses are conducted to measure the impact of the projects. Second, evaluability analyses are used to determine the projects' ex ante degree of evaluability. These two elements are combined and complemented with a brief review of the relevant literature to place the projects in the broader context of the discipline and come to a final evaluation of their contribution. - Details: Washington, DC: IDB, 2010. 42p. Source: Internet Resource: RE-378: Accessed April 2, 2015 at: http://publications.iadb.org/handle/11319/5818?locale-attribute=en Year: 2010 Country: Latin America Keywords: Violence Shelf Number: 135142 |
Author: Zechmeister, Elizabeth J., ed. Title: The Political Culture of Democracy in the Americas, 2014: Democratic Governance across 10 Years of the AmericasBarometer Summary: he 2014 Americas Barometer data and the corresponding regional report mark an important milestone for the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP): we are now able to assess over a decade of values, assessments, and experience as that have been reported to us though first-hand accounts by citizens across the region. The Americas Barometer surveys, spanning from 2004 to 2014, allow us to capture both change and continuity in the region on indicators that are vital to the quality and health of democracy across the Americas. In looking back over the decade, one trend is clear: citizens of the Americas are more concerned today about issues of crime and violence than they were a decade ago. We take this fact as a cornerstone for this report, and devote the first three chapters to an assessment of citizens - experiences with, evaluations of, and reactions to issues of crime and insecurity. We then proceed in the subsequent four chapters to address topics that are considered "core" to the Americas Barometer project: citizens - assessments of the economy and corruption; their interactions with and evaluations of local government; and, their democratic support and attitudes. In each of these cases we identify key trends, developments, and sources of variation on these dimensions and examine links between these core issues of crime and insecurity. Thus, the goal of this report is to provide a comparative perspective - across time, countries, and individuals - on issues that are central to democratic governance in the Americas, with a particular focus on how countries, governments, and citizens are faring in the face of the heightened insecurity that characterizes the region. Details: Washington, DC: United States Agency for International Development, 2014. 325p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 9, 2015 at: http://seguridadcondemocracia.org/administrador_de_carpetas/biblioteca_virtual/pdf/AB2014_Comparative_Report_English_V3_revised_120514_W.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Latin America Keywords: Economic Conditions and Crime Shelf Number: 135204 |
Author: Muggah, Robert Title: Mapping citizen security interventions in Latin America: reviewing the evidence Summary: A combination of global, regional and local threats facing Latin Americans have given rise to an array of security responses. Some intervention strategies are heavy-handed and focused on restoring law and order, while others emphasise a wide array of preventive measures and are intended to support social cohesion. A wide range of these latter interventions - described here as citizen security interventions - are being pursued across Latin America at different levels of scale and by a variety of organisations. Citizen security entails the delivery of effective public safety measures in the context of broader democratic norms. This report considers how citizen security interventions have been operationalised across Latin America. It presents findings from a database that assembles more than 1,300 citizen security interventions across the region since the late 1990s and detects a dramatic increase in the frequency of such interventions. It also notes that a few countries account for the vast majority of interventions and that most of them occur at the national (as opposed to the regional or city) level. Details: Oslo: Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre, 2013. 12p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 16, 2015 at: http://www.peacebuilding.no/var/ezflow_site/storage/original/application/59e5fcbe134279fd1c80bf940d4f45e4.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Latin America Keywords: Civilian Private Security Shelf Number: 135252 |
Author: Lessing, Benjamin Title: The Logic of Violence in Drug Wars: Cartel-State Conflict in Mexico, Brazil and Colombia Summary: Why have militarized interventions to curtail violence by drug cartels had wildly divergent results? In the past six years, state crackdowns drove a nine-fold increase in cartel-state violence in Mexico, versus a two-thirds decrease in Brazil. Prevailing analyses of drug wars as a criminal subtype of insurgency provide little traction, because they elide differences in rebels' and cartels' aims. Cartels, I argue, fight states not to conquer territory or political control, but to coerce state actors and influence policy outcomes. The empirically predominant channel is violent corruption-threatening enforcers while negotiating bribes. A formal model reveals that greater state repression raises bribe prices, leading cartels to fight back whenever (a) corruption is sufficiently rampant, and (b) repression is insufficiently conditional on cartels' use of violence. Variation in conditionality helps explain observed outcomes: switching to conditional repression pushed Brazilian cartels into nonviolent strategies, while Mexico's war "without distinctions" inadvertently made fighting advantageous. Details: Stanford, CA: Center on Democracy, Development, Stanford University, 2013. 57p. Source: Internet Resource: CDDRL Working Paper no. 145: Accessed April 20, 2015 at: http://cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/145.Violent_Corruption_CDDRL_Working_Paper.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 135319 |
Author: Carvalho, Ilona Szabo de Title: Citizen security rising: new approaches to addressing drugs, guns and violence in Latin America Summary: Many Latin American states are facing epidemic levels of organised and interpersonal violence. This violence is attributed to a number of risk factors, even if the illegal drugs trade and punitive responses to trafficking are widely credited with being the principle drivers. Yet while trafficking in narcotics is commonly associated with insecurity, weakening governance and underdevelopment, drugs as such are not the central problem. Rather, it is competition between criminal factions for control over the trade and a protracted "war" declared against drugs that have ratcheted up insecurity from Mexico to Brazil. The outcomes of this four-decade-long war are at best uneven, with gains in one country overshadowed by severe declines in others. More optimistically, a regional debate is under way that is challenging the status quo with a more concerted focus on prevention and demand reduction. Latin American societies are beginning to explore alternative approaches to drug control tailored to regional and national needs and priorities. There is a visible shift toward a discourse that emphasises prevention and treats consumption as a public health issue, focuses repression on the most violent criminal organisations and redirects law enforcement toward harm reduction. The hope is that this may presage a turn toward investment in policies that are animated more by evidence than ideology. Details: Oslo: Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre (NOREF): 2013. 10p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 26, 2015 at: http://www.peacebuilding.no/var/ezflow_site/storage/original/application/061bc30adffa795e6a5e43bf664c8666.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Abuse and Addiction Shelf Number: 129717 |
Author: Moestue, Helen Title: Youth violence prevention in Latin America and the Caribbean: a scoping review of the evidence Summary: Youth violence is reaching epidemic levels in some parts of Latin America. It is also a top priority for the region's policymakers, with growing investments in youth violence prevention and reduction. Yet the knowledge base on what works and what does not in terms of youth violence prevention is comparatively thin, and there is comparatively limited awareness of existing or planned impact studies. In order to fill this knowledge gap, this report assesses the state of the literature on youth violence impact assessments in 33 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. Following a systematic review of published and unpublished articles and interviews with dozens of experts, just 18 studies were detected. And while most of these came from Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Jamaica, several large randomised controlled trials are planned or ongoing in selected Central American and Caribbean countries. Taken together, the report highlights opportunities and limitations in academic, advocacy and policy debates on youth violence prevention. It recommends the application of longer-term and stronger study designs in future research, particularly of early childhood and family-oriented interventions. What is urgently required are more comprehensive evaluations and the development of standardised metrics to track the many dimensions of youth violence. Details: Oslo: Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Center, 2013. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 26, 2015 at: http://www.peacebuilding.no/var/ezflow_site/storage/original/application/0de9c5dd2bf52b9ed5e0f2b21bcc6578.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Latin America Keywords: Gang Violence Shelf Number: 129726 |
Author: Hellestveit, Cecilie Title: Tribes, thugs, terrorists and the law: can non-conventional armed violence be regulated? Summary: The primary role of international law in situations of massive violence is to channel and contain the use of force. However, non-conventional armed violence, particularly when this involves criminalised violence outside or on the margins of traditional armed conflict, is an area in which the law encounters numerous obstacles. This paper discusses the limits and constraints on conventional international law, primarily human rights and humanitarian law, when it is presumed to apply to the tribes, thugs and terrorists who underpin much of what is understood as non-conventional armed violence. In so doing, it draws heavily on analysis of the patterns of armed violence prevalent in Iraq and Syria in recent years, when attacks by tribes and terrorists (the precursors to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) increased as a result of the inability of state authorities to exercise the monopoly of force and to control territory. The brutality of organised crime in Latin America has likewise raised questions about the appropriateness and effectiveness of military responses, and has led to calls for new forms of humanitarian control over criminal groups. Drawing on these examples, the article considers how international law has adapted to new forms of violence in recent decades, and, on the basis of empirical evidence, highlights the most important impediments to more comprehensive international regulation of non-conventional armed violence. Details: Oslo: Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre, 2015. 12p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 2, 2015 at: http://www.clingendael.nl/sites/default/files/Hellestveit_NOREF_Clingendael_Tribes%20thugs%20terrorists%20and%20the%20law_can%20nonconventional%20armed%20violence%20be%20regulated_May%202015_FINAL.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Latin America Keywords: Organized Crime Shelf Number: 135842 |
Author: Garzon, Juan Carlos Title: The Criminal Diaspora: The Spread of Transnational Organized Crime and How to Contain its Expansion Summary: This publication is the culmination of a multi-year project examining the changing dynamics of organized crime in Latin America and its effects on democratic governance. Over the course of the project, we have sought to foster collaboration among Latin American and U.S. researchers to develop a comprehensive understanding of how criminal networks in different sub-regions interact and affect regional as well as global trends. We have also explored the policy implications of these dynamics, including the consequences of organized crime for civic and political participation and democratic citizenship overall. The basis for this publication is a series of commissioned research papers and public meetings organized by the Latin American Program, to examine the factors contributing to the spread of organized crime beyond national borders. The research also seeks to analyze the various policy consequences of these dynamics and the ways governments in the Western Hemisphere have tried to address the challenges posed by organized crime both domestically and jointly in a transnational and multilateral context. Details: Washington, DC: The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2013. 18p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 3, 2015 at: http://wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/CRIMINAL_DIASPORA%20(Eng%20Summary).pdf Year: 2013 Country: Latin America Keywords: Criminal Networks Shelf Number: 129828 |
Author: Urgent Action Fund of Latin America Title: Drug trafficking: Shadow powers and their hidden impact on the women's life in Latin America Summary: The Urgent Action Fund of Latin America, concerned about the situation of women and the consequences for their lives and communities of the dynamics of drug trafficking, initiated the Collaborative Initiative, Women, Resistance and "Shadow Powers", in 2013. The goal was to promote collective action among activists, members of women's organizations, and academics, who influence public policy in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Colombia, Ecuador and the United States. The objective of this initiative is to identify existing information related to the specific dynamics of this issue in the region and to bring out distinct points of view regarding the problem, the final goal being to identify ways to develop shared advocacy initiatives in the defense of women's rights. Details: Bogota, Colombia: Urgent Action Fund of Latin America, 2015. 78p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 8, 2015 at: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/64663568/library/fondoaccionurgente-drug-trafficking-shadow-powers-and-their-hidden-impact-on-the-women%27s-life-in-latin-america.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Policy Shelf Number: 135929 |
Author: Lumpe, Lora Title: US Law Enforcement Involvement in Counternarcotics Operations in Latin America Summary: US government assistance to foreign law enforcement agencies to curb drug trafficking into the United States began in 1949. At that time, two agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics were sent to Turkey and France to try and interdict the flow of heroin. By the 1960s and 70s, federal drug law enforcement agents were conducting major international operations aimed at cutting marijuana importation across the Mexican border and curbing heroin trafficking into the US by the French mafia (the "French connection"). In 1973 the DEA was created, in what was billed as an effort to consolidate drug control functions of several offices and agencies. However, US Customs overseas enforcement operations and investigations, which date back several decades, continued. Meanwhile, the US Coast Guard became involved in overseas counterdrug enforcement and investigation, State Department-backed counternarcotics assistance to foreign police agencies began in 1978 and FBI involvement in international counternarcotics programs began in earnest the 1980s and escalated in the mid-1990s. (The September 11th attacks and the resultant shift toward a focus on countering terrorist threats to the United States have affected the role and scope of most agencies with foreign counternarcotics responsibilities.) This memo covers each of these agencies' involvement in general terms, including their mission, methods of international operation, budgetary and bureaucratic history, and oversight mechanisms. An appendix relates specific details available about these agencies' activities in WOLA's priority countries. The information is drawn largely from government documentation (wherein the various agencies self describe their operations and motivation), congressional hearings, oversight reports and investigative journalistic accounts. The intent of the document is threefold: - to provide leads or questions that in-country researchers can follow up on to discover as much as possible about the reality and local impact of these agencies' overseas operations; - to identify places where Congress' help is needed in order to force basic information on these agencies' operations into the public domain and where work by WOLA will result in greater oversight of US counternarcotics policy; and - to lay the groundwork for an overview chapter on the non-military (ie, law enforcement) aspects of the US-backed war on drugs in Latin America. Details: Washington, DC: Washington Office on Latin America, 2002. 30p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 20, 2015 at: http://www.wola.org/sites/default/files/downloadable/Drug%20Policy/past/ddhr_law_enforcement_overview.pdf Year: 2002 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Control Policy Shelf Number: 136104 |
Author: Melara, Christian N. Title: Fighting narcotraffic in Latin America: Mexico and El Salvador - a comparative approach Summary: Mexico and El Salvador have been fighting organized crime for decades. While Mexico has fought drug cartels with the support of the U.S. government, El Salvador has struggled to lower high crime rates mostly with its own resources. Mexico, which has a different government structure from El Salvador's, has not been able to control drug trafficking despite the use of armed forces. Although Mexico's approach to fighting drug cartels differs from El Salvador's approach, neither country has been able to control organized crime in its own territory. While both countries have used armed forces, the outcomes vary. Mexico achieved partial success by incarcerating drug cartel leaders and seizing drugs; however, drug trafficking continued. El Salvador'suse of armed forces has been limited, and the strategy did not lower high crime rates. Human rights issues have aroused negative attention to both countries. The magnitude of the criminal activity in both countries requires a more comprehensive approach, rather than the use of armed forces to counter criminal organized crime. Details: Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School, 2015. 91p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed September 9, 2015 at: https://calhoun.nps.edu/bitstream/handle/10945/45226/15Mar_Melara_Christian.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Year: 2015 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 136710 |
Author: Sherman, Lawrence W. Title: Developing and Evaluating Citizen Security Programs in Latin America. A Protocol for Evidence-Based Crime Prevention Summary: This protocol is designed mainly for people working to reduce crime and improve justice in Latin America, but it discusses principles that can be used anywhere in the world. Those principles can be summarized as evidence-based crime prevention, a process by which good evidence on the facts of crime and its prevention is at the heart of theories and programs for promoting citizen security. "Evidence" in this sense is broadly defined as systematic factual observations of all kinds, not just as the forensic details of a criminal case. Evidence is the data developed by scientific methods to observe and predict any kind of truth, including facts about health, education, crime, and justice. A few key principles of evidence-based crime prevention are the following: crime must be measured reliably and precisely by well-audited systems; crime should be classified in whatever way supports crime prevention; and crime should be analyzed in multiple units or categories, including offenders, criminal networks, victims, micro-places (hot spots), communities, times, days of the week, and other categories Details: Inter-American Development Bank, 2012. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: IDB-TN-436: Accessed October 5, 2015 at: https://publications.iadb.org/bitstream/handle/11319/5504/Developing%20and%20Evaluating%20Citizen%20Security%20Programs%20in%20Latin%20America.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2012 Country: Latin America Keywords: Citizen Security Shelf Number: 136957 |
Author: Binder, Alberto Title: Effective Criminal Defense in Latin America: Executive Summary and Recommendations Summary: With data from Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, and Argentina, this report examines not only how defense rights are framed in domestic legislation and whether standards set by the Inter-American system are met, but also how these rights are implemented in practice. The survey approaches the issue from the perspective of the suspect, examining access to effective criminal defense, and whether structures and systems exist to enable suspects to effectively exercise these rights. This assessment comes after two decades of dramatic change in criminal procedures across Latin America; in many countries the process of reform continues. Effective Criminal Defense in Latin America provides an opportunity to take stock of what is working, and what is not. Details: Bogota, Colombia: Dejusticia, 2015. 53p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 28, 2015 at: http://www.dejusticia.org/files/r2_actividades_recursos/fi_name_recurso.766.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Latin America Keywords: Criminal Defense Shelf Number: 137167 |
Author: Boiteux, Luciana Title: The Incarceration of Women for Drug Offenses Summary: This brief demonstrates the impact of public policies on the incarceration of women in the Americas - the majority of whom are in prison for the crimes of small - scale dealing or transporting drugs. The consequences of the use of prisons can be seen not only in terms of how these women's lives are affected, but also in the impact on their families, children and dependents, who are left without social or economic protections. Details: Washington,DC: Research Consortium on Drugs and the Law (CEDD), 2015. 10p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 6, 2015 at: http://www.drogasyderecho.org/publicaciones/pub-priv/luciana_i.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Offenders Shelf Number: 137213 |
Author: Perez Correa, Catalina Title: Drug consumption and consumers in Latin America Summary: Although there is a regional consensus that drug consumption is not a criminal issue, but a health one, the responses from Latin American governments regarding the use of illegal substances remain predominantly punitive and repressive. This text explores the legal mechanisms that facilitate and explain the criminalization of drug users. It also shows that the prohibition of drug possession is fundamental for understanding the present situation of users and also for how to remove them from the criminal justice system. Details: Washington, DC: Research Consortium on Drugs and the Law (CEDD), 2015. 13p. Source: Internet Resource: http://www.drogasyderecho.org/publicaciones/pub-priv/catalina_i.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Abuse and Addiction Shelf Number: 137214 |
Author: Uprimny, Rodrigo Title: Curbing Addiction to Punishment: Alternatives to Incarceration for Drug Offenses Summary: This document summarizes the progress made on discussions regarding alternatives to incarceration for minor drug offenses in the Americas, presents some of the reasons why such measures must be implemented urgently in the region, and analyzes the relevance of some alternatives that have been applied to date. Finally, it concludes with several recommendations to governments for moving towards the adoption of alternatives to incarceration that are respectful of human rights and effective in terms of reducing prison overcrowding and protecting public health and safety. Details: Washington, DC: Research Consortium on Drugs and the Law (CEDD), 2015. 17p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 6, 2015 at: http://www.drogasyderecho.org/publicaciones/pub-priv/sergio_i.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Abuse and Addiction Shelf Number: 137215 |
Author: Corda, Alejandro Title: Drug Policy Reform in Latin America: Discourse and Reality Summary: This brief shows how current drug policies have been questioned within Latin America and analyzes the reforms undertaken in recent years; however, these initiatives have not yet changed the strategy of continuing to use criminal law as the main state response to address drug-related issues. The research done by CEDD indicates that the emphasis on a punitive approach keeps sending more and more people to prison for drug offenses, and they tend to represent a significant proportion of the overall penitentiary population. Details: Washington, DC: Research Consortium on Drugs and the Law (CEDD), 2015. 10p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 6, 2015 at: http://www.drogasyderecho.org/publicaciones/pub-priv/alejandro_i.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Abuse and Addiction Shelf Number: 137216 |
Author: Goyenechea, Alejandra Title: Combating Wildlife Trafficking from Latin America to the United States: The illegal trade from Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and South America and what we can do to address it Summary: WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING is one of the most lucrative forms of illegal activity, with an estimated annual global value of $7 billion to $23 billion. About 350 million plants and animals per year are sold on the black market. Every region of the world is experiencing the negative impacts of this illegal wildlife trade as natural resources are stolen by poachers and traffickers. New strategies are desperately needed to counter this growing crisis that threatens our planet's natural heritage. Discussions on combating wildlife trafficking have focused mainly on elephants, rhinos and tigers in Africa and Asia. Often forgotten, however, is the fact that wildlife trafficking occurs across all continents and threatens a wide range of imperiled species, including exotic birds, sea turtles, coral, caimans, iguanas, pangolins and land tortoises. This report draws attention to two important regions involved in wildlife trafficking that are often overlooked: the United States and Latin America. The United States is generally accepted as one of the largest consumers of illegal wildlife and wildlife products worldwide. Much of the world's trade in illegal wildlife is either driven by U.S. consumers or passes through U.S. ports on its way to other destinations - making the United States a key player in wildlife trafficking. The value of legal wildlife trade in the United States is estimated at $6 billion annually, the illegal wildlife trade at one-third of that or $2 billion annually. The Latin American region (Mexico the Caribbean, Central America and South America) experiences the same perfect storm of factors that have led to rampant wildlife trafficking in other regions: It is home to many developing countries, has thousands of imperiled and endemic species, and struggles with corruption and enforcement. Consequently, the United Nations designated Latin America a priority region in combating wildlife crime. The purpose of this report is to help the United States address this growing crisis by 1) assessing the capacity of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to detect and deter wildlife trafficking and to collect and analyze data on this illegal activity; 2) analyzing the effectiveness of existing law enforcement mechanisms and proposals for enhancing the overall capacity of the federal government to counter wildlife trafficking 3) identifying current patterns of high-volume trafficking from Latin America; and 4) identifying gaps in the existing response to wildlife crimes at our ports of entry. Details: Washington, DC: Defenders of Wildlife, 2015. 95p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 12, 2015 at: http://www.defenders.org/sites/default/files/publications/combating-wildlife-trafficking-from-latin-america-to-the-united-states-and-what-we-can-do-to-address-it.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Latin America Keywords: Illegal Wildlife Trade Shelf Number: 137241 |
Author: Jubb, Nadine Title: Regional Mapping Study of Women's Police Stations in Latin America Summary: For more than thirty years women's and feminist movements have mobilized throughout Latin America to end violence against women through strategies aimed at breaking the silence; changing the discriminatory social values and power structures that underlie violence against women; providing integral services; reforming and introducing laws; and achieving the recognition, defence and exercise of women's rights, particularly the right to live without violence. The movements have organized around various types of violence against women, however, here the focus is specifically on domestic violence perpetrated by (ex)intimate partners or (ex)spouses. In part due to this struggle, Latin American states have acquired obligations to guarantee women's rights through national laws, policies, and mechanisms, as well as regional and international conventions. Among the more specific commitments taken on so that these rights can be exercised are the Women's Police Stations (WPS): specialized police (or judicial) institutions whose purpose is to improve access to justice. The first WPS was inaugurated in 1985 in Brazil and there are now other similar institutions in the police and judiciary throughout the region. After almost 25 years of Women's Police Stations and almost fifteen years after signing the Inter-American Convention for the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women ("Convention of Belem do Para," 1994), it is now time to investigate the contributions of the WPS to Latin American women's access to justice so that they may exercise their right to a life free of violence and participate fully as citizens. We will examine their contributions in four countries with extensive and varied experience with the WPS: Brazil, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Peru. Before building a framework for this research, we must recognize that violence against women, especially domestic violence, continues to be one of the most deeply rooted problems facing the region. Although there is no prevalence data at the regional level, there is information at the national level (CIM-OAS, 2001) that indicates the following. In Nicaragua, a recent study revealed that 48% of women who had at one time been married or in a relationship had suffered verbal or psychological abuse by their partner or ex-partner, 27% had suffered physical abuse, and 13% sexual abuse (ENDESA, 2007). In Ecuador, the ENDEMAIN survey (2004) found that 41% of women who had at one time been married or in a relationship had suffered psychological violence and verbal abuse, 31% physical violence, and 12% sexual abuse. Prevalence data for Brazil and Peru was produced through the WHO Multi-Country Study (Garcia-Moreno, 2005), for one urban and one rural zone of each country. In the city of Sao Paulo, 41.9% of women who had at one time been married or in a relationship had experienced emotional abuse by their intimate partner, 27.2% had experienced physical abuse, and 10.1% had suffered physical abuse. In Zona da Mata de Pernambuco (the entire province, except for the city of Recife), 48.8% of women who had at one time been married or in a relationship had suffered emotional abuse from their intimate partners, 33.8% had experienced physical violence, and 14.3% sexual violence. In Peru, the same WHO study (Garcia-Moreno, 2005) found that in Lima, 57.8% of women who had at one time been married or in a relationship had experienced emotional abuse from their husbands/partners, 48.6% had suffered physical abuse, and 22.5% sexual abuse. In the department of Cusco, 68.5% of women who had at one time been married or in a relationship reported that their husbands or partners had subjected them to emotional abuse, 61.0% had suffered physical violence, and 46.7% sexual violence. Since the 1980s, national, regional, and international frameworks have been created that recognize that violence against women is a violation of their rights and that the state has the obligation to ensure women's exercise of their rights and to put a stop to violence. There are several examples of this at an international level: the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW),1 the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (1993), and the Beijing Platform (1995). At the Latin American level there is also the Convention of Belem do Para (1994), which includes not only women's rights but also the state's duties with regards to preventing, punishing, and eradicating violence, and is legally binding on all the ratifying states, including the four included in this study. Recognition of these rights is an achievement of great magnitude, however it is just one step towards the final goal: eradication of violence against women. The next step is to ensure that the provisions set forth in those laws, treaties, and conventions are put into practice. There are already several mechanisms in place whose purpose is to get states to assume their responsibilities, some of which are directly linked to these instruments. For example, the periodic submission of reports by signatory states to the CEDAW Committee and on-site visits by the same Committee; there is also the Follow Up Mechanism to the Implementation of the Convention of Belem do Para (MESECVI) with its own commission of experts (CEVI Committee). There are also other instruments whose purpose is to reaffirm these obligations and define/recommend concrete steps to enforce these rights. In order to end the violence, these laws, treaties, mechanisms, etc. must form part of a holistic approach whose fundamental contribution is that any solution must go well beyond the classification and punishment of crimes. Based on a gender and power framework, the solution must ensure the transformation of gender-based values and power structures and other forms of oppression that give rise to violence against women. These transformations must take place within the family, in society, in organizations/institutions, and within the state itself, for example, by changing: (1) the false division between the public and private spheres imposed by the patriarchal system, which contributes to violence against women and the imposition of silence and (2) the discriminatory values sometimes applied by police and justice-sector operators. These changes must contribute to women knowing their rights and actively exercising their citizenship. Another fundamental aspect of this holistic approach is the need for collaboration and coordination among the various actors and relevant sectors, for example, in the judicial sector to facilitate the whole process, from pressing charges to a fair trial and sentence. There must also be a complete range of services at the local level and coordination among them to help women leave situations of violence. These services must comprise a broader legal scope, including not only criminal but also civil/family code issues (for example, child custody and divorce), as well as health care services, shelters, socio-economic support (to secure housing and/or work, vocational training, etc.), as well as specialized training for police and all other justice-sector operators. The Women's Police Stations (WPS) have been one of the most important and most significant mechanisms used in the police-judicial sector since the inauguration of the first WPS in the region in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1985. They were one of the first mechanisms or public policies established in some countries of the region in response to the demands of the women's and feminist movements. In fact, in some of the countries the WPS were inaugurated before the creation of specific domestic violence laws. Most of the WPS are specialized police stations, although in some cases they are justice administration entities, as in Ecuador. There are currently more than 400 WPS just in Brazil, while in Latin America in general, more than thirteen countries have some sort of specialized police and/or judicial service. The WPS models have varied from one country to another both historically as well as geographically. Today, the WPS continue to be one of the most important policies and are the main entry point for accessing justice, and some countries have adopted polices to continue increasing the amount of WPS. A holistic approach and a commitment to women exercising their rights are needed to analyze the contribution that Women's Police Stations (WPS) have made to access to justice, the elimination of violence, and the exercise of citizenship. Using this approach is of the utmost importance for various reasons. First, WPS statistics mainly highlight the amount of formal complaints received and the clearance rate, without delving into the specific procedures and services of the WPS and without forming part of a universal information system that includes the rest of the path to justice and the impact of the WPS on women's lives. Therefore very little is really known about these women beyond the existing data, as no information is collected from the perspective of the women themselves. We must recognize the WPS as both an end in and of itself, with respect to clearing a path towards justice, as well as a step towards achieving gender justice, eradicating violence, and women in situations of violence exercising their rights. Second, while on the one hand, the laws and other instruments and mechanisms for defending women's rights continue to be strengthened, on the other hand, there are other aspects of the current situation that threaten the exercise of these rights. One aspect of this situation is the debate regarding so-called "family values," which questions the rights won by women and other family members. Another aspect has to do with the dissolution of the separation of church and state, which historically has been one of the main characteristics of democratic regimes in general. Today, this division is being threatened by religious fundamentalism. A third element includes those aspects of globalization that make women and other members of society more vulnerable, thus exposing them to greater violence. Migrant workers are one example who, in many instances, have much less access to the police and the judicial system. Third, very little is known about the impact of the WPS on eradicating violence and on women exercising their rights. It is not clear how to distinguish the impact of the WPS from that of the judicial system and/or community networks. There is also very little information on how the current situation is affecting the WPS and the women who use their services. At the same time, there are studies that say that the most significant impact of the WPS has been in making violence more visible in society in general - which is fundamental - rather than a significant rise in the number of women who press charges and follow through the whole process until a judicial sentence is handed down, where the end result of that police-judicial process contributes directly to eliminating violence in their lives. One of the reasons for this are the meanings of gender that have been detected in WPS policies and in the attitudes of the police and justice-sector operators, ones which reproduce an approach based on family values, even though the purpose of the WPS is to defend women's rights. Another reason is the lack of integrated systems or networks to support women by providing accompaniment and other services that respond to their needs. Fourth, it is important to take advantage of the long and varied experiences of the WPS to collect and disseminate transformative practices by exchanging procedures, practices, and lessons learned among the countries as a contribution to social change. Although when the WPS were first set up there were some exchanges among the personnel and those in charge, there are currently very few sectoral and inter-sectoral exchanges among WPS operators from the different countries. This mapping study is the first step of a comparative regional study of Women's Police Stations that addresses access to justice for survivors of violence against women and the exercise and respect for their rights in order to make proposals for improving public policy in this sector. The investigation, as previously mentioned, will be carried out in four countries: Brazil, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Peru. The overall study has several innovative aspects for analyzing the impact of the WPS. The basic element is the holistic gender and power approach. It is from this approach that the two main subjects of the study have been identified: the WPS and women in situations of violence; where women in situations of violence are placed in the centre of the analysis. This is to ensure that the research goes beyond a mere evaluation of whether the WPS are fulfilling their functions to analyze their impact on women's lives from their own perspectives. The purpose of this regional mapping study and the accompanying national ones is to set out the analytical framework for the research project as well as to collect and analyze existing studies on the WPS in the four countries, which will be used to support the design of the primary research. The present study will analyze the fundamental aspects of the WPS, with less attention to women in situations of violence due to the lack of information available. Details: Centro de Planificacion y Estudios Sociales, 2008. 49p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 13, 2016 at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.558.8601&rep=rep1&type=pdf Year: 2008 Country: Latin America Keywords: Violence Against Women Shelf Number: 137572 |
Author: Uang, Randy Sunwin Title: Careful Crackdowns: Human Rights and Campaigning on Public Security in Latin America Summary: Crime and violence are regularly seen as being ripe for politicians to turn into campaign issues and win votes. This study argues, in contrast, that success on public security is not so automatic: human rights values constrain the use of security and the winning of votes on it. Even in Latin American countries, where voters' concerns about rampant crime and violence are among the highest in the world, considerations of human rights combine with low trust in security forces to restrict the viability of the issue in key ways. Examination of presidential campaigns in Colombia in 1994, 1998, 2002, and 2010 supports this claim. Success on security is a two-step process: invoking the issue and then gaining voter support on the topic. Usability depends on the absence of recent repression and the degree of organization of security threats. Then, winning votes on it depends on having a civilian background, a campaign that balances security with other issues, and messages of careful enforcement. These messages of careful enforcement promise targeted, deliberate use of security forces' enforcement activities in a way that pays attention to human rights, rather than promising unbridled enforcement, increased punishment, or programs of long-term prevention. This study therefore shows how candidates are forced to walk a fine line between promising to establish order and promising to protect basic rights and liberties. These findings are powerful, providing an understanding of public security in electoral campaigns that maintains a much closer fit with empirical reality than existing research. The results also provide a critique of the sociological school of vote choice and points to ways in which ownership of the issue of security may be leased away. Furthermore, because the results are driven by the spread of human rights values, the results demonstrate the importance of quick shifts in political culture as a factor that explains changes in political patterns. Details: Austin, TX: University of Texas at Austin, 2012. 300p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed January 22, 2016 at: https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/ETD-UT-2012-05-5647 Year: 2012 Country: Latin America Keywords: Human Rights Abuses Shelf Number: 137650 |
Author: de Hoyos, Rafael Title: Out of School and Out of Work : Risk and Opportunities for Latin America's Ninis Summary: One in five youth aged 15 to 24 in Latin America is out of school and not working (ninis). Nearly 60 percent of ninis in the region are from poor or vulnerable households in the bottom 40 percent of the income distribution, and 66 percent are women. At the same time, it is men who account for the growth in 2 million ninis during the last 20 years. The study undertakes a comprehensive diagnosis quantifying the problem, develops a conceptual framework identifying the determinants of youths' choices, uses all the available data to test the theoretical implications, and reviews the evidence regarding interventions that have proven effective in keeping youth in school and helping them become employed. The findings of the study offer policy makers in the region with options to provide opportunities to the region's 20 million ninis. Details: Washington, DC: The World Bank, 2015. 65p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 1, 2016 at: One in five youth aged 15 to 24 in Latin America is out of school and not working (ninis). Nearly 60 percent of ninis in the region are from poor or vulnerable households in the bottom 40 percent of the income distribution, and 66 percent are women. At the same time, it is men who account for the growth in 2 million ninis during the last 20 years. The study undertakes a comprehensive diagnosis quantifying the problem, develops a conceptual framework identifying the determinants of youths' choices, uses all the available data to test the theoretical implications, and reviews the evidence regarding interventions that have proven effective in keeping youth in school and helping them become employed. The findings of the study offer policy makers in the region with options to provide opportunities to the region's 20 million ninis. Year: 2015 Country: Latin America Keywords: Delinquency Prevention Shelf Number: 137715 |
Author: Abt, Thomas Title: What Works in Reducing Community Violence: A Meta-Review and Field Study for the Northern Triangle Summary: This report was commissioned by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for the Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI), a United States government effort primarily executed by both USAID and the U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). In preparation for this report, we performed a systematic meta-review of 43 reviews, including over 1,400 studies, to identify what works in reducing community violence. In addition, we supplemented our findings with fieldwork in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and the United States, visiting over 20 sites and conducting over 50 semi-structured interviews. We found that a few interventions, such as focused deterrence and cognitive behavioral therapy, exhibited moderate to strong effects on crime and violence and were supported by substantial evidence. A few others, such as scared straight and gun buyback programs, clearly demonstrated no or negative effects. The vast majority of programmatic interventions, however, exhibited weak or modest effects. We identified six "elements of effectiveness" shared by the most impactful interventions, including maintaining a specific focus on those most at risk for violence; proactive efforts to prevent violence before it occurs whenever possible; increasing the perceived and actual legitimacy of strategies and institutions; careful attention to program implementation and fidelity; a well-defined and understood theory of change; and active engagement and partnership with critical stakeholders. Given the modest effects of most interventions, that violence generally clusters around a small number of places, people, and behaviors, and that violence is not displaced from those clusters when they are targeted, we reach the simple yet powerful conclusion that it is advisable to concentrate and coordinate anti-violence efforts where they matter most. We further conclude that increased attention to program implementation and evaluation is necessary. We close with four recommendations to governmental and non-governmental funders with regard to community violence in the Northern Triangle and globally. Details: Washington, DC: United States Agency for International Development, 2016. 53p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 29, 2016 at: https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/USAID-2016-What-Works-in-Reducing-Community-Violence-Final-Report.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Shelf Number: 137993 |
Author: Souza Pinheiro, Alvaro de Title: Narcoterrorism in Latin America: A Brazilian Perspective Summary: Narcoterrorism in Latin America: A Brazilian Perspective builds a case for giving greater attention to the narcoterrorism threat. General Alvaro suggests that security conditions in Colombia and the Tri-Border Area (TBA), where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet, deserve the immediate attention of security officials of the Hemisphere's more capable countries. In this paper, General Alvaro provides a review of Colombia's security situation-the history and current situation-and details his thoughts about the United States' support of the government of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez. Details: Hurlburt Field, FL: Joint Special Operations University, 2006. 92p. Source: Internet Resource; JSOU Report 06-4: Accessed March 12, 2016 at: http://jsou.socom.mil/JSOU%20Publications/JSOU06-4pinheiroNarcoterrorism_final.pdf Year: 2006 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 138196 |
Author: Jaitman, Laura Title: Closing Knowledge Gaps: Toward Evidence-Based Crime Prevention Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean Summary: This publication identifies the main areas of research that the Citizen Security and Justice Cluster of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will undertake in the next four years. The Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region is the most violent region in the world. Crime and violence are the population's key concerns. Crime, however, has been a consistently understudied field in the region. While most of the knowledge originates from the United Kingdom and the United States, the issues that arise in LAC compels the research community to produce evidence on the cause of the high prevalence of crime in the region and on what models are effective to reduce and prevent crime. For more than 15 years, the IDB has been a major partner to the region's countries, providing technical and financial support for crime prevention interventions. The expertise of the IDB and its presence in most LAC countries are comparative advantages to advocate a comprehensive research agenda. Details: Inter-American Development Bank, 2015. 74p. Source: Internet Resource: Technical Note No. IDB-TN-848: Accessed March 22, 2016 at: https://publications.iadb.org/bitstream/handle/11319/7240/ICS_TN_Closing_Knowledge_Gaps.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2015 Country: Latin America Keywords: Citizen Security Shelf Number: 138384 |
Author: Organization of American States Title: Cybersecurity: Are We Ready in Latin America and the Caribbean? Summary: The manner in which nation states and regions address cybersecurity capacity is essential for effective, efficient, and sustainable cybersecurity. The 2016 Cybersecurity Report is the result of the collaboration between the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Organization of American States (OAS), and the Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre (GCSCC) at the University of Oxford. The report presents a complete picture and update on the status of cybersecurity (risks, challenges, and opportunities) of Latin America and the Caribbean countries. The first section consists of a series of essays on cybersecurity trends in the region contributed by internationally recognized experts in the field. The second examines the "cyber maturity" of each country through the Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model (CMM), which approaches cybersecurity considerations through five dimensions of capacity and evaluates them along five maturity stages for each of its 49 indicators. The CMM is the first of its kind in terms of the breadth and depth in each aspect of cybersecurity capacity. It is built on a foundation of multi-stakeholder consultation and respect for human rights, carefully balancing the need for security to enable economic growth and sustainability while respecting the right of freedom of expression and the right to privacy. Details: Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); Organization of American States, 2016. 193p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 23, 2016 at: https://publications.iadb.org/handle/11319/7449 Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Computer Crime Shelf Number: 138397 |
Author: Jaitman, Laura Title: The Welfare Costs of Crime and Violence in Latin America and the Caribbean Summary: The aim of this volume is to carry out a systematic and rigorous analysis of the costs of crime and violence in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a focus on methodological and conceptual issues that are key to an exhaustive understanding of their economic and social dimensions. It presents an economic model of crime that conceptualizes the impact of violence on welfare. In addition, this volume is the first of its kind to provide estimates of the direct costs of crime and violence with the accounting method in a homogenous manner for a set of countries in the region (Chile, Costa Rica, Honduras, Paraguay, and Uruguay). Furthermore, it presents applied analyses on the indirect and intangible economic and social costs of crime and violence, and discusses the need to improve statistical systems in the region for conducting evidence-based citizen security analyses and obtaining estimates of the welfare costs of crime. Details: Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2015. 106p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 24, 2016 at: https://publications.iadb.org/handle/11319/7246 Year: 2015 Country: Latin America Keywords: Costs of Crime Shelf Number: 138403 |
Author: Wagner, Livia Title: Organized Crime and Illegally Mined Gold in Latin America Summary: Throughout history, man has venerated gold. Gold was the first of the three gifts of the Magi to Jesus. For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, the values of world currencies were fixed in terms of gold (the Gold Standard). Olympic athletes vie for gold medals and the best footballer in the world is awarded the Ballon d'Or. An extremely well behaved child is 'as good as gold' and a generous person has 'a heart of gold'. It is only natural to think positively about gold, just as it is equally natural to think negatively about drugs. But, as the Global Initiative proves in its latest research report: Organized Crime and Illegally Mined Gold in Latin America, illegally mined gold is now more important to organized crime in some countries of Latin America than narcotics: - In Peru and Colombia - the largest cocaine producers in the world - the value of illegal gold exports now exceeds the value of cocaine exports. - Illegal mining is the easiest and most profitable way to launder money in the history of Colombian drug trafficking In the first decade of the 21st century, two trends intersected: soaring gold prices greatly increased the profitability of gold mining, whilst the US led "War on Drugs", notably in Colombia and Mexico ('Plan Colombia' and the 'Merida Initiative'), sharply reduced the profitability of drug trafficking from Latin America to the USA. As a result, there were considerable incentives for the criminal groups that control the drug trade to move into gold mining, and the fragmented nature of artisanal gold mining in Latin America greatly facilitated their entry. These groups were quick to realise that taking control of large swaths of land remote from government attention and dominating the enterprises that mined that land would enable them to generate larger profit margins with much lower risk. Even though global gold prices have gradually decreased in recent years, organized criminal groups have continued to drive the expansion of illegal gold mining. The region is now unique in the high percentage of gold that is mined illegally; about 28% of gold mined in Peru, 30% of gold mined in Bolivia, 77% of gold mined in Ecuador, 80% of gold mined in Colombia and 80-90% of Venezuelan gold is produced illegally. Illegal gold mining employs hundreds of thousands of workers across Latin America, many of whom are extremely vulnerable to labour exploitation and human trafficking. Details: Geneva, SWIT: Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, 2016. 100p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 30, 2016 at: http://www.globalinitiative.net/download/global-initiative/Global%20Initaitive%20-%20Organized%20Crime%20and%20Illegally%20Mined%20Gold%20in%20Latin%20America%20-%20April%202016%20(web).pdf Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Gold Shelf Number: 138482 |
Author: Ruprah, Inder J. Title: Sex, Violence, and Drugs Among Latin American and Caribbean Adolescents: Do Engaged Parents Make a Difference? Summary: This paper uses data from the Global School-based Student Health Survey to investigate the prevalence of health risk behaviors, in particular substance use, risky sexual behavior, and violence among adolescents in 15 Latin American and Caribbean countries. Using logit regressions and meta-analysis, we find that having parents engaged in raising their children is associated with significantly reduced problem behaviors in adolescents. That said, in the Caribbean the prevalence of health risk behaviors in adolescents is higher and engaged parents is lower than in Latin America, and the correlation between engaged parenting and reduced risk behaviors is generally weaker. Nonetheless, for both subgroups of countries, engaged parents do appear to make a difference. Details: Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2016. 29p. Source: Internet Resource: IDB WORKING PAPER SERIES Nº IDB-WP-664: Accessed April 27, 2016 at: https://publications.iadb.org/bitstream/handle/11319/7557/Sex-Violence-and-Drugs-Among-Latin-American-and-Caribbean-Adolescents-Do-Engaged-Parents-Make-a-Difference.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Abuse and Addiction Shelf Number: 138824 |
Author: Open Society Foundations Title: No Health, No Help: Abuse as Drug Rehabilitation in Latin American and the Caribbean Summary: Chaining, public humiliation, abduction, and prayer. If these were treatments offered for diabetes or heart disease, we would see them as cruel and abusive. Yet these are tactics used widely in centers for the "treatment and rehabilitation" of people who use drugs in Latin America and the Caribbean. These abusive centers often operate unlawfully and without medical or governmental supervision. People are often brought to these centers against their will, by family members, by police, or by gangs of center residents. Families are not aware of the conditions in the center, or don't know where else to turn. These practices run counter to evidence-based drug treatments recommended by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and reveal how often drug dependency is treated as a moral failing rather than a medical condition. As regional governments prepare for the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs in April, defining what truly constitutes a "public health approach" to drug policy is increasingly important. No Health, No Help: Abuse as Drug Rehabilitation in Latin America & the Caribbean is a compilation of reports by researchers and civil society in six countries - Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. The report details the extreme human rights abuses occurring in the name of "rehabilitation," and offers recommendations for how governments can work to improve drug treatment in these countries. Details: New York: Open Society Foundations, 2016. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 4, 2016 at: https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/no-health-no-help-en-21060403.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Abuse and Addiction Shelf Number: 138911 |
Author: Galvao, Luisa Abbott Title: Reporting on Violence against Women: A Case Study of Select News Media in Seven Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean Summary: This report outlines the results of a preliminary case study of the portrayal by the news media of violence against women in Latin America and the Caribbean. It focuses on national print news agencies in seven countries: Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Jamaica, Mexico, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The aim of this analysis is to identify general patterns on the way the news media conveys violence against women and highlight areas that require additional scrutiny by the news media as well as civil society, government, and the international development community. Details: Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2015. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Discussion Paper No. ADB-DP-426: Accessed May 11, 2016 at: https://publications.iadb.org/bitstream/handle/11319/7355/ICS_DP_Reporting_on_Violence_against_Women.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2015 Country: Latin America Keywords: Media Shelf Number: 139006 |
Author: Andreas, Peter Title: The International Politics of Drugs and Illicit Trade in the Americas Summary: Illicit trade has long been a central feature of Latin America's engagement in the world. In this chapter we first briefly sketch the scope and dimensions of illicit trade in the region, and stress the importance of various types of power asymmetries. Drawing on illustrations primarily from drug trafficking (by far the most studied and documented case), we then outline in a preliminary fashion some of the key issues in understanding transnational illicit flows and their impact on Latin America foreign and domestic policy and governance. We concentrate on four themes: 1) the relationship between illicit trade and diplomatic relations with the United States; 2) the relationship between illicit trade and democratic governance; 3) the relationship between illicit trade and organized violence; and 4) the relationship between illicit trade and neo-liberalism. Details: Providence, RI: Brown University - Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, 2013. 43p. Source: Internet Resource: Watson Institute for International Studies Research Paper No. 2013-05 : Accessed June 8, 2016 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2326720 Year: 2013 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 139315 |
Author: Justino, Patricia Title: Inequality, Distributive Beliefs and Protests: A Recent Story from Latin America Summary: This paper analyses the role of perceptions of inequality and distributive beliefs in motivating people to engage in protests. The paper focuses on the case of Latin America, where an interesting paradox has been observed: despite considerable reductions in inequality, most countries in Latin America have experienced increases in protests and civil unrest in the last decade. In order to understand this paradox, we analyse the relationship between inequality and protests in recent years in Latin America, using micro-level data on individual participation in protests in 2010, 2012 and 2014. The results show that civil protests are driven by distributive beliefs and not by levels of inequality because individual judgements and reactions are based on own perceptions of inequality that may or may not match absolute levels of inequality. The results also point to the important role of government policy in affecting perceptions of inequality and ensuring social and political stability. Details: London: Institute of Development Studies, 2016. 29p. Source: Internet Resource: IDS Working Paper, vol. 2016, no. 467: Accessed June 9, 2016 at: http://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/11559/Wp467.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Conflict and Violence Shelf Number: 139349 |
Author: Hoelscher, Kristian Title: Understanding Unlikely Successes in Urban Violence Reduction Summary: The problems of violence in Latin America are often reiterated, yet understanding how and why violence declines is far less common. While urban violence takes different forms and has a range of motivations, we suggest that strengthening political and social institutions are important in violence reduction processes. The article examines this using a comparative analysis of two cities which have recently seen unusual and marked reductions in lethal violence: Bogota in Colombia and Recife in Brazil. Drawing on primary data collection, the case studies suggest improvements in public security are linked with institutionalising progressive security policies, increasing accountability of political institutions, and social reforms encouraging civic values and commitments to non-violence. While findings are specific to these two cases, they may plausibly apply to a broader range of cities, such that commitments to improve public policy and political institutions can overcome structural risk factors that foster violence. Details: Unpublished paper, 2014. 21p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 11, 2016 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2461064 Year: 2014 Country: Latin America Keywords: Public Security Shelf Number: 139395 |
Author: Savona, Ernesto U. Title: A framework for the quantification of organized crime and assessment of availability and quality of relevant data in three selected countries of Latin America and the Caribbean Summary: Measuring Organized Crime (OC) is a challenge that policy makers and law enforcement agencies have to face. Enhancing knowledge on Organized Crime is central for taking effective measures and reducing its human, social and economic consequences. This can be particularly important for Latin American and Caribbean countries, since most of them are affected by serious problems caused by OC. The aim of this paper is to suggest indicators for measuring OC and assess the current availability of data related to specific indicators of the region. First, the concept of OC has been divided into five dimensions (groups, activities, state response, enablers and civil society response) and related sub-dimensions. Then, for each of them a set of indicators is suggested. The resulting list should orient data collection, explaining what information is required for counteracting actions, and act as a road map for improving the quality and caliber of data. Starting from this framework, each country, according to its priorities and resources, can develop its own road map for data collection. In the last part of the paper, a pilot study conducted to assess the availability of the suggested indicators within three Latin American and Caribbean states (Mexico, Colombia and Dominican Republic) is presented. Details: Milan: Transcrime, 2012. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 13, 2016 at: http://www.transcrime.it/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/CoE_MOC-in-Latin-America-and-the-Caribbean-Sept-2012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Latin America Keywords: Crime Statistics Shelf Number: 139629 |
Author: Cohan, Lorena M. Title: Crime, violence, at-risk youth, and responsible tourism in Latin America and the Caribbean Summary: The Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region has one of the highest levels of crime and violence in the world. While the average world homicide rate is 11 homicides per 100,000 residents, the rate in the LAC region is 36 per 100,000 (WHO, 2003). Crime and violence are now recognized as serious economic and social problems with very high economic and social costs, especially in poor urban areas. By some estimates, the region loses up to 14 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) to violence. Particularly worrisome is the fact that youth in the region (typically defined as 15-24 year-olds) and young men in particular are disproportionately involved in violence, as both victims and perpetrators. As a case in point, the LAC region has the world's highest homicide rate of men between the ages of 15 and 29 (69 per 100,000), with perpetrators of violent crimes most often being young men between the ages of 16 and 25. This note provides an overview of three sustainable tourism initiatives in the region that seek to link tourism related activities with social programs that by focusing on the most common types of risk factors help prevent youth from becoming engaged in at-risk behavior, including crime and violence. All three of these initiatives were highlighted at the 'learning event on sustainable and responsible tourism in LAC.' Although the initiatives described in this note have not yet undergone impact evaluations, they do provide promising ideas for future Bank operations that seek to link sustainable tourism and at-risk youth programs. Details: Washington, DC: The World Bank, 2009. 4p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 28, 2016 at: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2009/12/08/000333038_20091208014404/Rendered/PDF/520430BRI0EnBreve1430Box345549B01PUBLIC1.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Latin America Keywords: At-Risk Youth Shelf Number: 130067 |
Author: Financial Action Task Force of Latin America Title: Analysis of Regional Threats on Money Laundering Summary: The XXX GAFILAT Plenary approved the implementation of a regional study of threats on money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF) of the member countries of the Financial Action Task Force on Latin America with the financial support of the European Union. The pursued objective is for countries to achieve greater effectiveness in mitigating risks and that the resources allocated for this purpose are used more efficiently. Details: s.l.: Cocaine Route Program, European Union, 2016. 53p. Source: Internet Resource: The European Union's Instrument Contributing to Stability and Peace: The Cocaine Route Programme: Accessed August 2, 2016 at: http://www.cocaineroute.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Analysis-of-Regional-Threats-on-Money-Laundering-.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Cocaine Shelf Number: 139951 |
Author: Aguayo, F. Title: Engaging Men in Public Policies for the Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls Summary: This report reviews regional policies, action plans, and impact-evaluated programs that engage men in the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). It provides evidence regarding efforts in the LAC region to prevent and eradicate all forms of VAWG used by men, and it outlines effective interventions and progress in the field, as well as the obstacles, lessons learned, and challenges. It includes recommendations on how to incorporate a masculinities perspective in policies and programs. Details: Santiago: EME/CulturaSalud. Washington, D.C.: Promundo-US. Panama City: UN Women and UNFPA, 2016. 80p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 29, 2016 at: http://promundoglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/EN-Engaging-Men-in-Public-Policies-to-Prevent-VAWG-Final-for-Web-082216.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Abusive Men Shelf Number: 140075 |
Author: Verite Title: The Nexus of Illegal Gold Mining and Human Trafficking in Global Supply Chains: Lessons from Latin America Summary: Research carried out by Verite has found that Latin American countries export staggering amounts of illegally mined gold tied to human trafficking. This presents legal and reputational risks for major companies with gold in their supply chains. The paper, The Nexus of Illegal Gold Mining and Human Trafficking in Global Supply Chains, provides analysis of the risk of labor trafficking linked to illegal gold mining in Latin America, drawing upon in-depth field research carried out by Verite in Peru in 2012-2013 and in Colombia in 2015, and desk research carried out across the Latin American region. The diminishing supply and increasing demand for gold, combined with criminal and armed groups' quest for new sources of illicit revenue, have contributed to a surge in illegal extraction of gold from increasingly remote and lawless regions. Latin America is a vitally important player in the global gold trade, contributing 20 percent of the world's gold production in 2013. Latin American countries, along with Canada (which is a major conduit for Latin American gold), constitute all top ten exporters of gold to the United States. In several Latin American countries, unregulated illegal and informal mines account for over 75 percent of gold produced. In Peru and Colombia-the two largest cocaine producers in the world-the value of illegal gold exports has in recent years surpassed the value of cocaine exports, becoming the largest illicit export from these two countries. In Latin America, and elsewhere in the world, illegally mined gold is strongly linked to human trafficking and other labor abuses as these mines are usually located in areas with a weak presence of government authorities and a strong presence of armed and criminal groups. Verite's in-depth research in Peru found many other indicators of forced labor in illegal gold mining, all of which increase the risk of human trafficking. In Colombia, both men and women were found to be vulnerable to labor trafficking in mines controlled by armed and criminal groups. Small-scale artisanal miners, who should in no way be confused with the groups that control illegal mines, are also increasingly vulnerable to becoming victims of debt bondage, both because they are extorted by these groups and because some governments treat them as criminals rather than as potential victims. In addition, illegal gold mining is closely associated with child labor, severe threats to workers' health and safety, and sex trafficking. Child labor - including forced child labor-is common in illegal gold mining. While children are generally employed in peripheral services such as tire and motorcycle repair and stores, teenagers are employed in many of the most dangerous jobs in illegal gold mines, such as swimming in mercury-filled pools of water to suck up gold-laced sand with powerful hoses, risking drowning and being disemboweled by the powerful hoses. Workers also face mine collapses and explosions, repetitive tasks, heavy work, and exposure to extreme heat, dust, noise, tropical illnesses, and mercury and cyanide. Verite field research found that sex trafficking, including of girls as young as 12, is extremely pervasive in illegal mining areas. Illegally mined gold is "laundered" and exported, with the help of corrupt government officials, to prominent refineries, which supply some of the biggest central banks, jewelry companies, and electronics producers in the world. In contrast to other goods produced by organized criminal groups such as cocaine or heroin, illegally mined gold can easily be laundered, after which it becomes a legitimate consumer commodity that moves easily and legally across international borders. The ubiquity of illegally-mined gold and the lack of transparency upstream of most gold refineries means that companies buying gold from major refineries are often at risk of illegally mined gold entering their supply chains. A Verite analysis of Dodd-Frank Act compliance records found that 72 of the Fortune 500 companies filed conflict mineral reports during 2015 listing the smelters and refineries from which they obtained their gold the previous year. Verite found that approximately 90 percent of these companies purchased gold from refineries that have demonstrated a pattern of purchasing illegally mined gold from Latin America. Companies that source illegally produced gold from Latin America face severe reputational and legal risks, including potential liability under a number of statutes covering company complicity in trafficking in persons, forced and child labor, organized crime, corruption, and conflict minerals. Some of these statutes stipulating steep fines for companies and even long jail sentences for their executives. Combatting illegal gold mining and the human and labor rights abuses that accompany it requires a coordinated, multi-pronged approach by the governments of gold producing countries, as well as the countries and companies that import gold. While some Latin American governments have recently stepped up efforts to prosecute individuals and companies that illegally extract and export gold, the governments of gold importing countries have thus far done relatively little to hold accountable the companies that import this gold, although they have the tools and mandate to do so. Companies must also take steps to ensure that they are not responsible for perpetuating organized crime, violence, corruption, and human trafficking by purchasing, directly or indirectly, illegally mined gold from Latin America. Details: Amherst, MA: Verite, 2016. 17p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 30, 2016 at: http://www.verite.org/sites/default/files/Verite-Report-Illegal_Gold_Mining.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Child Labor Shelf Number: 140083 |
Author: Vilalta, Carlos Title: Violent Crime in Latin American Cities Summary: In the last two decades, Latin America has been describes as an unsafe and violent region. Nonetheless, such picture is mostly based on homicide rates. Even though homicide is considered the best recorded crime, it does not provide full account of other forms of violent crime. Moreover, a great deal of research on crime throughout the region tends to be descriptive and anecdotal. Misunderstanding the causes of crime and disregarding evidence might induce policy makers to implement ineffective strategies, particularly at the local level. Therefore, based on Social Disorganization Theory, this study explains violent crime across and within selected cities of Latin America. Details: Inter-American Development Bank, 2016. 113p. Source: Internet Resource: Discussion Paper No. IDB-DP-474: Accessed September 2, 2016 at: https://publications.iadb.org/handle/11319/7821 Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Homicides Shelf Number: 140132 |
Author: Jaitman, Laura Title: Crime Concentration and Hot Spot Dynamics in Latin America Summary: Latin America and the Caribbean is the most violent region in the world, with an annual homicide rate of more than 20 per 100,000 population and with an increasing trend. Yet most evidence of crime concentration, geo-temporal patterns, and event dependence comes from cities in high-income countries. Understanding crime patterns in the region and how they compare to those in high-income countries is of first-order importance to formulate crime reduction policies. This paper is the first to analyze crime patterns of cities in five Latin American countries. Using micro-geographic units of analysis, the paper finds, first, that crime in Latin America is highly concentrated in a small proportion of blocks: 50 percent of crimes are concentrated in 3 to 7.5 percent of street segments, and 25 percent of crimes are concentrated in 0.5 to 2.9 percent of street segments. This validates Weisburd's "law of crime concentration at place" (Weisburd, 2105). These figures are fairly constant over time but sensitive to major police reforms. The second finding is that hot spots of crime are not always persistent. Crime is constantly prevalent in certain areas, but in other areas hot spots either appear or disappear, suggesting a possible rational adaptation from criminals to police actions that cause crime displacement in the medium run to other areas. Finally, the paper finds a significant pattern of repeated crime victimization in location and time for property crimes. There are striking similarities with the developed world in crime concentration, although crime levels are much higher and usually increasing. There are also some differences in terms of the persistence of hot spots that pose interesting policy implications and avenues for future research. Details: Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2016. 34p. Source: Internet Resource: IDB Working Paper Series No. IDB-WP-699L Accessed September 2, 2016 at: https://publications.iadb.org/handle/11319/7702 Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Crime Concentration Shelf Number: 140134 |
Author: Corporacion Andina de Fomento Title: Towards a Safer Latin America: A new perspective to prevent and control crime Summary: Public safety is an important determinant of the welfare of families and communities. The blistering growth of crime and violence in many countries of Latin America in recent years has not only entailed high economic and social costs but also, by undermining trust among citizens and public authorities, compromised democratic governance and state legitimacy. This year's Report on Economics and Development (RED) proposes an approach for the analysis of insecurity in which crime results from decisions made by individuals in a particular situation. While it is true that beliefs, perceptions, self-control, and other personality traits (in turn shaped by family experiences, education level, job opportunities, and other experiences throughout the life cycle) can tip an individual into crime, his physical and social environment, the incentives provided by illegal markets (e.g., drugs), and the credibility and efficiency of the criminal justice system are also important. From this perspective, crime-fighting actions involve a wide range of dimensions: family, school, neighbodhood, community, urban infrastructure, economic regulations, police, justice, and prisons. The available evidence (mostly for developed countries) shows that investing in the nutrition and early stimulation of children and promoting family environments with non-conflicting and proactive parenting have positive effects on people's crime propensity, decreasing the incidence of crime. The same goes for interventions at school and in the peer group during adolescence to reduce youth criminogenic exposure. Despite their importance, these are medium- and long-term investments. In the short term, interventions affecting the environment and the opportunities for committing crimes (such as, for example, improvements in public spaces, schedule limits on the sale of alcohol and targeted policing strategies, by type of crime or territory) could be very rewarding as well. However, to plan, design, and implement these various interventions the available information has to improve. A basic first step is to obtain reliable measurements of the incidence of crime, both from administrative records and victimization surveys. Yet, despite the increased importance of crime and violence for public opinion in the region, there is still much to be done to achieve statistics with methodological rigor and adequate frequency that make it possible to assess the phenomena quantitatively. Of course, reliable statistics are not enough. It is also important for public policy initiatives to be monitored and evaluated to learn about their quantitative and qualitative effects and understand the channels through which these effects play out. This learning is essential when it comes to phenomena with multiple determinants, regarding which the outcomes of any actions can be very specific to the context in which these actions are implemented. Critically, the process of generating statistics and designing, implementing, and evaluating policies requires hefty government institutional capabilities. These capabilities do not appear in a vacuum, but are rather the result of political will to prioritize crime control, which, in turn, depends on citizens' disposition to, through advocacy and vote, demand just this from their representatives. And besides political will, it is necessary for public bureaucracies to be properly trained and have the right incentives and resources for action. Details: s.l.: Corporacion Andina de Fomento, 2015. 268p. Source: Internet Resource: accessed September 3, 2016 at: http://scioteca.caf.com/bitstream/handle/123456789/708/RED2014-english-towards-a-safer-latin-america.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y Year: 2015 Country: Latin America Keywords: Crime Shelf Number: 140142 |
Author: EUROsociAL Programme Title: Regional Model for a Comprehensive Violence and Crime Prevention Policy Summary: Over the past decade, the premise by which the origin of violence and crime is multicausal and multi-dimensional in nature has been widely accepted as the starting point from which the comprehensive prevention of violence and crime can be approached in order to build safer and more cohesive communities and societies. Proof of this can be found in the principles of the Central America Security Strategy (ESCA). Consequently, the Model is an exercise in supporting the implementation and promotion of the said principles and the approach promoted by the European Union through this strategy, laid down in the EU action plan, CELAC 2015-2017. Within this context and on the basis of the aforementioned premise, the Regional Model for a Comprehensive Violence and Crime Prevention Policy embodies a significant part of the work on Public Security undertaken by the European Union's EUROsociAL II programme. The formulation of the Model began in the first three regional meetings on violence and crime prevention: El Salvador (2011), Panama (2013) and Guatemala (2014). This initiative, taken by the European Commission with Latin America, is primarily a commitment towards the region based on the Commission's main goal: cooperation in order to promote public policies that can contribute to social cohesion. Under this programme, the European Forum for Urban Security (Efus) and the International Juvenile Justice Observatory (IJJO), coordinated by Expertise France, worked on the drafting of a comprehensive regional violence and crime prevention policy framework by creating this Model with the support of the consultancy firm, Proyectos Estrategicos Consultoria. The main aim of this document, whose purpose is to review and analyse theoretical and scientific developments in the public policies implemented in Latin America and their respective legal and judicial frameworks, as well as the guidelines of international bodies regarding violence and crime prevention, is to guide and support governments as they create and manage their plans and actions in this area. Accordingly, and in light of the fact that this document is consistent with the situation in the region and can be adapted to all of the circumstances that can be found in Latin America, the participatory nature of this process is worth highlighting. Consultative video-conference meetings allowed the authors to find out about and take note of various practical concerns regarding the management of violence and crime prevention measures voiced by ten countries (Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Uruguay) and four international cooperation bodies and agencies (Inter-American Development Bank, World Bank, Organization of American States, and the United Nations Development Programme). These observations were subsequently integrated into the document. The Model puts forward seven processes and two conditions whose purpose is to facilitate the identification of the circumstances, developments and requirements specific to each country to contribute to the construction and consolidation of comprehensive public violence and crime prevention policies. Details: Madrid: EUROsociAL Programme, 2015. 76p. Source: Internet Resource: Collection Working Paper n. 33: Accessed September 7, 2016 at: http://sia.eurosocial-ii.eu/files/docs/1461686840-DT_33-_Modelo%20regional%20Prevencion%20Violencia%20(ENG).pdf Year: 2015 Country: Latin America Keywords: Crime Prevention Shelf Number: 140223 |
Author: Maris, Lesbia Title: Crime Perceptions and Reality in Latin America Summary: We show that perceptions of insecurity are strongly correlated with victimization at the individual level and suggest that the reason this relationship is usually not uncovered in simple cross country studies is that they fail to consider observable differences across individuals who may face different perceptions of insecurity as well as different probabilities of victimization. Our findings are consistent with a model where individuals rank crime relative to other problems depending on whether they have developed coping mechanisms to attenuate the impact of crime on their wellbeing, the implication is that the weight individuals' place on crime depends more on changes in actual crime than on its level. We do not claim to establish a causal relationship between victimization and perception, but we raise the bar for claims of the absence of a correlation. Details: Caracas: CAF, 2014. 15p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper no. 2014/01: Accessed September 17, 2016 at: http://scioteca.caf.com/bitstream/handle/123456789/255/crime-perceptions-latin-america.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Year: 2014 Country: Latin America Keywords: Crime Shelf Number: 140334 |
Author: Ortega Londono, Carolina Title: Happiness and Victimization in Latin America Summary: In recent decades, studies on economics have identified happiness as a life quality indicator that not only accounts for individuals' socioeconomic improvement but also accounts for their interactions with institutions and public goods, such as personal safety and protection of life. This study examines the determinants of individual happiness of Latin American citizens by focusing on whether the individual had been a victim of a crime in the last twelve months. To do this, a generalized ordered logit with partial constraints is used to analyze data obtained from the Americas Barometer Survey of 2014. The individual self- reported level of life satisfaction is used to study its relationship with having been a victim of a crime during the previous year. The results suggest the existence of a negative relationship between having been a victim of a crime in the past twelve months and being very satisfied with life. Details: Medellin, Antioquia, Colombia: Universidad EAFIT, 2016. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: No. 16-28: Accessed September 20, 2016 at: https://repository.eafit.edu.co/bitstream/handle/10784/9115/WP-2016-28%20Carolina%20Ortega.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Victimization Shelf Number: 140366 |
Author: Frost, Jenna R. Title: The Nexus Between Criminal and Extremist Groups in Latin America: Implications for Unconventional Weapons Acquisition Summary: This dissertation reveals relationships between criminal and extremist groups in Latin America to determine which relationships enable extremists to acquire unconventional weapons or weapons material using criminal network pathways. The research is based on a holistic approach to examine proliferation pathways enabled through networked relationships. Social network analysis is used as the methodological approach to identify key relationships in the network. Data collected for the study were obtained from journal articles, congressional testimony, U.S. government reports, U.N. documents, and news sources for the time frame covered in the dissertation 1998-2013. This research shows the importance of understanding the ramifications of relationships between criminal and extremist groups in Latin America and their impact on security issues for the United States Details: Fairfax, VA: George Mason University, 2014. 155p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed September 20, 2016 at: http://digilib.gmu.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1920/8856/Frost_gmu_0883E_10632.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Year: 2014 Country: Latin America Keywords: Criminal Networks Shelf Number: 140371 |
Author: Briscoe, Ivan Title: Illicit Networks and Politics in Latin America Summary: Organized criminal networks are global phenomena that distort local and global economic markets, bring violence and blur the role of the state in providing basic services, all in the interest of increasing their wealth. The main weapon used by such networks is corruption - of politicians and of many of the state apparatuses in the countries in which they operate. This undermines the basic principles of democracy and puts the state at the mercy of illicit economic interests. This is a global challenge. Latin America has particularly suffered from these issues for a number of reasons. The strong presence of illicit networks dedicated to illegal mining, the trafficking of exotic species, arms trafficking and, in particular, the production and sale of illegal drugs such as cocaine has created a massive inflow of illicit money. Together with the high cost of political activity in the region and difficulties in controlling political contributions, this has allowed organized crime to penetrate the political landscape. However, efforts made in different Latin American countries to confront these networks have seen significant achievements. There is a wealth of positive and negative experience on how these problems can be confronted that will be useful for countries in the same region and on other continents. This book focuses on experiences in Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras and Peru. The authors draw on research that illustrates how relationships are forged between criminals and politicians. They identify numerous mechanisms for tackling these relations, and discuss both the achievements and the challenges concerning their practical application. Details: The Hague: Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) and Netherlands Institute of International Relations (Clingendael), 2014. 305p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 26, 2016 at: http://www.idea.int/publications/illicit-networks-and-politics-in-latin-america/en.cfm Year: 2014 Country: Latin America Keywords: Criminal Networks Shelf Number: 140463 |
Author: Muggah, Robert Title: Making Cities Safer: Citizen Security Innovations from Latin America Summary: Cities are where the policy and practice of citizen security are determined. Although national and subnational strategies are essential to scaling-up crime prevention, cities are where they are put into practice. Because of the way they bring opportunities and risks into focus, cities are natural laboratories of policy innovation to prevent and reduce violence. Some of the most remarkable progress in homicide reduction, crime prevention and public safety in recent decades has occurred in large and medium-sized cities, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean. This report explores the evidence of what works, and what does not, when it comes to promoting citizen security in Latin American and Caribbean cities. While not exhaustive, the report features a range of positive and less positive experiences of 10 municipalities and metropolitan areas across the region. The goal is to highlight the change in approach from hardline law and order approaches to ones that emphasize multi-sector and preventive measures. The structure of the report is straightforward. Each case study includes a broad overview of the context and problem, a description of the intervention and how it was implemented, and some reflections on the outcomes and impacts. - Details: Rio de Janeiro: Igarape Institute; Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2016. 49p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 28, 2016 at: https://publications.iadb.org/handle/11319/7757 Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Citizen Security Shelf Number: 146157 |
Author: Kruijt, Dirk Title: Drugs, Democracy and Security: The impact of organized crime on the political system of Latin America Summary: This study is a comparative analysis about the impacts of organized crime - and specifically drugs related crime - on the Latin American and Caribbean political systems. According to the terms of reference, the focus of the study is on Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia and Bolivia. A first draft of this paper was presented at a conference organized by New York University (NYU), International IDEA, the Open Society Institute (OSI) and NIMD and held in Lima from 8 to 11 February 2011. While travelling and collecting data I added information about additional countries in order to facilitate a more general overview of the problem. During previous missions in 2010 I had also accumulated information about organized crime and drugs in Central America and the Andean countries. The result is that in this study comparative data are presented about the three major Andean coca-producing countries and the most affected Meso-American transition countries (namely, Mexico and the northern triangle of Central America). The seven countries analysed in this study have different profiles with respect to their internal stability; the level of crime related violence; the strength of political institutions, security apparatus and the judiciary; and the national policies with respect to coca cultivation, cocaine production and crime prevention. The effects on the political system, key institutions and political parties also differ by country. Colombia and Mexico are heavily affected by crime-related violence. One characteristic of these two countries is the fact that coca cultivation and cocaine production are strictly illegal and penalised. The prevailing strategy in both countries is a militarised countering strategy, with strong financial and intelligence support from the United States' government agencies. By contrast, Peru and Bolivia are substantially more tolerant with respect to the cocaleros, the generally poor peasants who cultivate coca. These two countries are less affected by crime-related violence. While the level of violence directly associated with coca cultivation and cocaine production is extremely high in Colombia, it is remarkably moderate in Peru, and considerably low in Bolivia. Contrary to the opinion of some participants in the debate about organized crime and the state, there are no failed states in Latin America, though areas exist where effective state control is not in place. Even in Colombia and Mexico the core regions and cities are relatively unaffected by the drug wars and the associated violence. In Central America, and in particular Guatemala, the security forces are on the defensive. In all countries the police are the weakest link in the cluster of institutions involved in countering strategies. In all countries the armed forces appear to be less infiltrated by crime. With the exception of Honduras, the armed forces in Latin American or Caribbean countries do not act as political players with ambitions of participating in the political arena. In Guatemala, the national government decided in the mid-2000s that its security institutions and judicial system were so frail and vulnerable that the country was in need of an international commission, the Comision Internacional Contra la Impunidad en Guatemala (CICIG) to supervise the functioning of these vital institutions. No other government has felt the need to request this sort of international assistance or supervision. I also maintain that theses about 'state capture' by organized crime are not based on strong empirical studies. In this study I make a comparison with the former guerrilla organizations and the counterinsurgency strategies that prevailed in Latin America between the 1960s and the late 1980s. Present countering strategies in the region have some resemblance to the more or less classical counterinsurgency strategy and tactics used during the anti-guerrilla campaigns, which were then generally designed and procured by military dictatorships. There are, of course, also fundamental differences: previously, guerrilla movements were 'politico-military' organizations whose ideologies were explicitly aimed at overthrowing dictatorships and establishing more democratic and socialist governments. The criminal organizations of the present day are 'economic-military' rather than 'politico-military' organizations, aiming not for the overthrow of the state but for an uninterrupted and easily obtained economic surplus. This is to be achieved through violence and corruption - either via the easy way (by corrupting authorities) or the hard way (by guns and gangs). Their strategy is to control territories or commercial corridors which act as leeways for production and trafficking and which guarantee uninterrupted profits. Their final objective is surplus, a 'good life' and their incorporation within elite segments of society and politics. Defining 'state capture' as a final objective tends to obscure the perverse effects of organized crime, including long-term corruption of key institutions of law and order and a semi-permanent state of impunity and immunity with respect to law enforcement. More specifically, we can identify four main effects: 1 Impunity has as a long-lasting effect in the form of the de-legitimisation of national security and the judicial and penitentiary system, an avalanche process in which political parties and social movements are also affected. 2 A second perverse effect is the phenomenon of the widespread infiltration, at the local and regional level, of political parties and political representatives. In Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and other countries the corruption and intimidation of 'tame' politicians has been ironically dubbed the system of 'para-politica' or 'para-politicos'. 3 A third perverse effect is the deteriorating reputation of local politicians. Populist presidents, from Menem in Argentina to Fujimori in Peru, have used the stereotype of easy-to-corrupt magistrates and politicians to launch themselves as the 'true defenders of the poor' against parliament and the courts. 4 A fourth perverse effect is the confusion between hard-core crime organizations, operating with military-like enforcers or paramilitary organizations, and the 'normal' but much more visible groupings of criminal youth gangs or maras in Central America and several metropolitan areas in Latin America and the Caribbean. In Central America this has resulted in mano dura (zero tolerance) presidential campaigns, aimed not at a solution to organized crime but at the elimination or imprisonment of the highly visible (and tattooed) mara members. It is my conviction that political parties in particular need to be responsible for adequate security agendas. However, in most Latin American and Caribbean countries, politicians are inclined to delegate this all-important agenda to 'experts': that is, former generals and commanders of specialised police task forces. One recommendation I would therefore make is that donor organizations such as NIMD should provide policy research and assist in the design of integral security agendas and related policies, making them accessible to political parties and civil society in general. Details: The Hague: Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, 2011. 74p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 28, 2016 at: http://nimd.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Drugs_democracy_and_security_english_-_nimd_june_2011.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Latin America Keywords: Cocaine Shelf Number: 140490 |
Author: Araya Lopez, Alexander Title: Public spaces, stigmatization and media discourses of graffiti practices in the Latin American press: Dynamics of symbolic exclusion and inclusion of urban youth Summary: This dissertation focuses on the discourses about graffiti practices (including tagging culture and pichacao/pixacao) in two Latin American newspapers, namely La Nacion in Costa Rica and Folha de Sao Paulo in Brazil. Considering ongoing processes of physical and symbolic exclusion directed towards urban youth, these discourses seem to be anchored in broader discussions regarding both the public sphere (in Habermas's sense) and shared public spaces. This research approaches "graffiti" in its multiplicity, emphasizing the diversity of (young) producers and their political, aesthetic and economic purposes. The all-encompassing notion of "youth" is also called into question, proposing a more open approach to what are called "youth cultures". Five different (but intertwined) discourses have been identified in this research, targeting both graffiti practices and producers: First, the medical-epidemiological discourse linked to hygiene and social prophylaxis. Second, the legal frame, in which graffiti is considered a form of vandalism, a threat to common heritage and to the maintenance of social order. Third, the criminogenic discourse, in which graffiti inscriptions are related to the (re)production of social violence. Fourth, an emergent discourse of social value, highlighting the role of graffiti practices in social campaigns (mostly directed toward peripheral youth). And fifth, the discourse that emphasizes the aesthetic or artistic value of the practice, including its recognition in both art institutions and the art market. While processes of co-optation are visible in relation to some of these productions, the unauthorized form of graffiti inscriptions (mostly tagging and pichacao/pixacao) could be read as a form of political communication, in the sense of acts of civil disobedience. The discussion of the notion of "space" is also included in this research, highlighting the necessity of recognizing the existence of alternative and countercultural spaces, as well as the affective/emotional uses of space. Therefore, considering the debate on the right to the city (proposed by Lefebvre), this research proposes approaching graffiti production as a form of dissent opposing the capitalist-oriented spatial rationality of contemporary urban environments. In short, an analysis of the discourses associated with practices such as graffiti production is crucial in order to understand the processes of production of urban environments, the policies associated with these spaces and the notions of "normalcy" and "order" that supposedly define them. Details: Berlin: Freien Universität Berlin, 2015. 236p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed September 28, 2016 at: http://www.diss.fu-berlin.de/diss/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/FUDISS_derivate_000000017060/Doktorarbeit_ARAYA_LOPEZ_ALEXANDER_2015.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Latin America Keywords: Graffiti Shelf Number: 140493 |
Author: Felbab-Brown, Vanda Title: Human Security and Crime in Latin America: The Political Capital and Political Impact of Criminal Groups and Belligerents Involved in Illicit Economies Summary: Organized crime and illegal economies generate multiple threats to states and societies. But although the negative effects of high levels of pervasive street and organized crime on human security are clear, the relationships between human security, crime, illicit economies, and law enforcement are highly complex. By sponsoring illicit economies in areas of state weakness where legal economic opportunities and public goods are seriously lacking, both belligerent and criminal groups frequently enhance some elements of human security of the marginalized populations who depend on illicit economies for basic livelihoods. Even criminal groups without a political ideology often have an important political impact on the lives of communities and on their allegiance to the State. Criminal groups also have political agendas. Both belligerent and criminal groups can develop political capital through their sponsorship of illicit economies. The extent of their political capital is dependent on several factors. Efforts to defeat belligerent groups by decreasing their financial flows through the suppression of an illicit economy are rarely effective. Such measures, in turn, increase the political capital of anti-State groups. The effectiveness of anti-money laundering measures (AML) also remains low and is often highly contingent on specific vulnerabilities of the target. The design of AML measures has other effects, such as on the size of a country‟s informal economy. Multifaceted anti-crime strategies that combine law enforcement approaches with targeted socioeconomic policies and efforts to improve public goods provision, including access to justice, are likely to be more effective in suppressing crime than tough nailed-fist approaches. For anti-crime policies to be effective, they often require a substantial, but politically-difficult concentration of resources in target areas. In the absence of effective law enforcement capacity, legalization and decriminalization policies of illicit economies are unlikely on their own to substantially reduce levels of criminality or to eliminate organized crime. Effective police reform, for several decades largely elusive in Latin America, is one of the most urgently needed policy reforms in the region. Such efforts need to be coupled with fundamental judicial and correctional systems reforms. Yet, regional approaches cannot obliterate the so-called balloon effect. If demand persists, even under intense law enforcement pressures, illicit economies will relocate to areas of weakest law enforcement, but they will not be eliminated. Details: Miami: Florida International University, Western Hemisphere Security Analysis Center, 2011. 57p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 6, 2016 at: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/09_latin_america_crime_felbab_brown.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Latin America Keywords: Illicit Economies Shelf Number: 147800 |
Author: Farah, Douglas Title: Islamist Cyber Networks in Spanish Speaking Latin America Summary: Despite significant concern among policy, law enforcement and intelligence communities in the United States (U.S.) over the possible spread of radical Islamist thought throughout the world as part of a global jihad movement, there has been little investigation into the growing cyber networks in Latin America that promote strong anti-Semitic and anti-U.S. messages. This paper offers an overview of that network, focusing on the structure of Shi'ite websites that promote not only religious conversion but are also supportive of Iran - a designated State-sponsor of terrorism - , its nuclear program, Hezbollah and the "D Bolivarian revolution" led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his allies in Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua. There is also a smaller group of Sunni Muslim websites, mostly tied to the legacy organizations of the Muslim Brotherhood. Many of the Shi'ite websites are linked to each other consistently portray Israel as a Nazi State, and the United States as an imperialist war monger. The Palestinian issue is frequently juxtaposed with the anti-imperialist struggle that those states supporting Chavez' Bolivarian revolution claim to wage against the United States. Some of the Islamist websites claim thousands of new converts, but such claims are difficult to verify. Most of the websites visited touted the conversion of one or two individuals as significant victories and signs of progress, implying that there are few, if any, mass conversions. Details: Miami: Florida International University, Western Hemisphere Security Analysis Center, 2011. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 6, 2016 at: http://www.strategycenter.net/docLib/20111013_ICN_Farah_Sept11.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Latin America Keywords: Cyber Networks Shelf Number: 140597 |
Author: Arevalo de Leon, Bernardo Title: Armed Social Violence and Peacebuilding: Towards an operational approch Summary: Until recently, the international community showed limited interest in the problem of violence in society. If it was not part of an international conflict or an expression of internal political turmoil, social violence in its different forms – criminal violence, inter-communal violence, gender violence, etc. – was considered inconsequential to the international system, inexistent for international policy and irrelevant to statecentred scientific disciplines such as political science and international relations. With the demise of the Cold War, however, it became evident that these forms of violence threatened important international development goals and security interests, and that even though non-political in motivation, they had significant political effects at the national and international levels. Whether it be international drugtrafficking networks encroaching on the emerging state institutions of Guinea-Bissau, or youth gang violence in El Salvador driving homicide rates that are higher in peacetime than during the civil war, or criminal violence creating “violent pockets†that condemn urban populations to a life of violence in Brazil, or socio-economic tensions resulting in xenophobic violence in South Africa: all these examples are expressions of an emerging global phenomenon that will here be called armed social violence. The conceptual and operational frameworks required by the international community to effectively address these phenomena are still incipient. Attempts to transpose the conventional “political conflict violence†paradigm to situations of armed social violence have not been effective, and important efforts are being undertaken by the academic and international policy communities to better understand the nature of the problem and determine the strategies that should be adopted. Public health approaches to violence, security sector engagement with small arms proliferation and citizen security, and international coordination on transnational organised crime are expressions of this trend. Important insights are beginning to emerge from these different fields on the nature of the problem and the elements needed to address it. Peacebuilding has been a latecomer to these efforts. It emerged in the last decade of the twentieth century as part of the international peace and conflict continuum, originally addressing the post-conflict phase of “conventional†situations of violence. While peacebuilding initially ignored issues of social violence, evidence of the negative impact of this form of violence on the consolidation of peace became unequivocal. It has given rise to innovative approaches, such as the work of the Pailig Foundation on community-level gun violence in Mindanao, Interpeace’s work with youth gang violence in El Salvador and Honduras, and Viva Rio’s experience in crime mitigation in Rio de Janeiro and Port-au-Prince (Banfield 2014; Aguilar Umaña/Arévalo de León/Tager 2014). This paper proposes that the inclusive and participatory methodologies offered by peacebuilding approaches provide an operational strategy that allows the international community to engage effectively with issues of armed social violence. Instead of the reliance on theoretically grounded conceptual frameworks and internationally defined generic policies, the dialogue and research methodologies of peacebuilding allow the development of a highly granular, context-specific understanding of the social dynamics of each phenomenon and mobilise stakeholders to take collaborative and complementary action across the state-society divide. Section Two of this paper examines existing approaches to understanding the phenomenon of armed social violence, starting with some insights into the role of violence in state-formation processes (2.1). We proceed to review ongoing discussions on the nature of violence and conflict in the contemporary world (2.2), before discussing two of its most prominent and challenging expressions: urban violence and organised crime (2.3). The section closes with some reflections on the features common to all manifestations of armed social violence (2.4). Section Three focuses on policy responses to these challenges, identifying the key features of standard development and security approaches and the limitations that have rendered them ineffective (3.1), before discussing the characteristics and merits of peacebuilding approaches to contexts of armed social violence (3.2). We also examine the challenges that peacebuilding still needs to address in order to contribute more effectively to the design and implementation of viable operational strategies for addressing armed social violence. We then propose a series of concrete policy recommendations to the international community (3.3). The contribution closes in Section Four with some reflections and conclusions that summarise the key points of our argument, pointing out the added value that peacebuilding can bring to the development of effective policy responses to armed social violence. Details: Berlin: Berghof Foundation, 2016. 30p. Source: http://www.berghof-foundation.org/fileadmin/redaktion/Publications/Handbook/Dialogue_Chapters/dialogue12_ArevalodeLeonTager_lead.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Organized Crime Shelf Number: 141123 |
Author: Lachenal, Cecile Title: Beyond Domestic Violence Laws in Latin America: Challenges for Protection Services for Survivors Summary: This research reviews the response to Domestic Violence in Latin America, focusing in on Mexico, and uses a series of in-depth interviews with survivors of domestic violence living in a shelter in Mexico City, to review their experience of the protection services that they received. The feminist and human rights movements in the Latin America Region have made public the discussion of violence against women as a social and multifaceted problem embedded in the private, public and collective spheres. Violence against women perpetuates gender gaps, highlighting the vulnerable situation of exclusion women face. In response, Latin American countries have put in place a variety of legislative and institutional mechanisms inspired by the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women (Belem Do Para Convention), the first binding regional treaty that proposes a liberal and individualistic approach to dealing with violence against women, and establishes a variety of measures that states should adopt to prevent, protect and sanction this phenomenon. This study uses a series of in-depth interviews with survivors of domestic violence living in a Mexico City shelter, as well as with its staff, to analyse how survivors experience protection services. Although it only covers one shelter and thus constitutes only a partial analysis, it represents an innovative effort to understand a protection model from the perspective of the survivors. We look at the trajectory of survivors from the moment they decided to seek help from the institutions, to the period at the shelter itself, and finally the period after which they have left the shelter. Details: Mexico: Fundar, Centre of Analysis and Research, 2016. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Regional Evidence Papers: Accessed November 22, 2016 at: http://ella.practicalaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/20160414-Fundar_Domestic-Violence-REP.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Domestic Violence Shelf Number: 147905 |
Author: Roshani, Niousha Title: Grassroots Perspectives on Hate Speech, Race, & Inequality in Brazil & Colombia Summary: Across Latin America, online and digitally mediated racist speech directed at Afro-descendant youth has intensified existing racial stigma and contributed to the marginalization of minority groups in both online and offline contexts. Racist speech is not a new phenomenon in the region. However, such speech is often amplified through digital media platforms, including social media, and some claim its increasing prevalence may be contributing to the normalization of racism. While racist speech online is prominent in both Brazil and Colombia, studies focused on Latin America are extremely limited and have addressed the overarching theme of online hate speech. Through interviews with leaders of civil society organizations (CSOs) and a review of existing literature, this study discusses efforts and interventions that CSOs have employed to counter racial stigma faced by the collective population of Afro-descendant youth in an attempt to understand and examine signs of impact related to hate speech in Brazil and Colombia, distinct from existing overarching studies of online hate speech. Informed by in-depth conversations with practitioners working in the field, and working closely with collaborating institutions that directly serve Afro-descendent youth, the case study presents an overview of the environment and context within which Afro-descendent youth impacted by racist speech exist. The interviews illustrate that most CSOs view digital racism as an extension of historical racial inequality. This case study documents the efforts of CSOs in the region who are helping to support the actions of young Afro-descendants to occupy roles historically denied to them, thereby deconstructing negative perceptions and re-claiming representations of their identities and realities. Details: Cambridge, MA: Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society Research, 2016. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Publication No. 2016-18: Accessed December 14, 2016 at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2882234 Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Hate Crimes Shelf Number: 144912 |
Author: Sullivan, Mark P. Title: Latin America: Terrorism Issues Summary: Compared to other parts of the world, the potential threat emanating from terrorism is low in most countries in Latin America. Most terrorist acts occur in the Andean region of South America, committed by two Colombian guerrilla groups—the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN)—and one Peruvian guerrilla group, the Shining Path (SL). All three of these groups have been designated by the U.S. State Department as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). The FARC, however, has been engaged in peace negotiations with the Colombian government since 2012, culminating in a peace accord signed in September 2016. Although the accord was narrowly rejected by a national plebiscite in early October, both sides hammered out a new peace accord in November 2016, which was ratified by Colombia’s Congress at the end of that month. Negotiations between the Colombian government and the smaller ELN had several false starts in 2016, although to date formal talks with the government have not started. The Shining Path has been significantly diminished because of Peruvian military operations. For a number of years, there has also been U.S. concern about Iran's increasing activities in the region as well as those of Hezbollah, the radical Lebanon-based Islamic group with close ties to Iran. Both are reported to be linked to the 1994 bombing of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) that killed 85 people in Buenos Aires. More recently, U.S. concerns have included financial and ideological support in South America and the Caribbean for the Islamic State (also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, ISIL/ISIS), including the issue of individuals from the region leaving to fight with the Islamic State. The United States employs various policy tools to counter terrorism in the region, including sanctions, anti-terrorism assistance and training, law enforcement cooperation, and multilateral cooperation through the Organization of American States (OAS). In addition to sanctions against U.S.-designated FTOs in the region, the United States has imposed an arms embargo on Venezuela since 2006 because the Department of State has determined that Venezuela is not fully cooperating with U.S. anti-terrorism efforts. The United States has also imposed sanctions on several current and former Venezuelan officials for assisting the FARC and on numerous individuals and companies in Latin America for providing support to Hezbollah. Cuba had been on the State Department's so-called list of state sponsors of terrorism since 1982, but in May 2015, the Obama Administration rescinded Cuba’s designation as part of its overall policy shift on Cuba. Details: Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2016. 26p. Source: Internet Resource: RS21049: Accessed December 20, 2016 at: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/RS21049.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Counter-Terrorism Shelf Number: 147300 |
Author: Chioda, Laura Title: Stop the Violence in Latin America: A Look at Prevention from Cradle to Adulthood. Overview booklet. Summary: For a long time, the logic seemed unassailable: Crime and violence were historically thought of as symptoms of a country’s early stages of development that could be "cured" with economic growth and reductions in poverty, unemployment, and inequality. More recently, however, our understanding has changed. Studies now show that economic progress does not necessarily bring better security to the streets. Developments in Latin America and the Caribbean exemplify this point. Between 2003 and 2011, average annual regional growth in Latin America and the Caribbean, excluding the global crisis of 2009, reached nearly 5 percent. What’s more, the growth rate among the bottom 40 percent of the population eclipsed that of the same group in every other region of the world. During that same decade, the region experienced unprecedented economic and social progress: extreme poverty was cut by more than half, to 11.5 percent; income inequality dropped more than 7 percent in the Gini index; and, for the first time in history, the region had more people in the middle class than in poverty. Despite all this progress, the region retained its undesirable distinction as the world’s most violent region, with 23.9 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. The rate of homicide actually accelerated during the latter half of the decade. The problem remains staggering and stubbornly persistent. Every 15 minutes, at least four people are victims of homicide in Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2013, of the top 50 most violent cities in the world, 42 were in the region. And between 2005 and 2012, the annual growth rate of homicides was more than three times higher than population growth. Not surprisingly, the number of Latin Americans who mention crime as their top concern tripled during those years. Violence makes people withdraw, hide behind closed doors, and avoid public spaces, weakening interpersonal and social ties that bind us as a community. Insecurity is the result of a combination of many factors, from drug trafficking and organized crime, to weak judicial and law enforcement systems that promote impunity, to a lack of opportunities and support for young people who live in deprived communities. Youth bear a disproportionate share of the risk of committing and falling victim to violence, with important repercussions for their life trajectories and society as a whole. The complexity of the issue (and multiplicity of its causes) is one of its defining characteristics and the main reason why there is no magic formula or a single policy that will fix the violence in our region. We will not solve the problem by relying only on greater police action or greater incarceration, or through more education or employment. We must do all this and do it in a deliberate way, based on reliable data and proven approaches, while continuously striving to fill existing knowledge and data gaps to improve policy design. To that end, Stop the Violence in Latin America: A Look at Prevention from Cradle to Adulthood is a significant contribution. This report takes a new and comprehensive look at much of the evidence that now exists in preventing crime and violence. It identifies novel approaches —both in Latin America and elsewhere—that have been shown to reduce antisocial behavior at different stages in life. Effective prevention starts even before birth, the report argues, and, contrary to common perceptions, well-designed policies can also be successful later in life, even with at-risk individuals and offenders. The report emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive approach to tackle violence, and it highlights the benefits and cost-effectiveness of redesigning existing policies through the lens of crime prevention. This will require substantial coordination across ministries, as well as accountable and efficient institutions. While economic and social development do not necessarily lead to a reduction in crime and violence, high levels of crime and violence do take a toll on development. And in that regard, we at the World Bank are fully aware that in order to succeed in our goals to eradicate extreme poverty and boost prosperity, the unrivaled levels of crime and violence in the region need to come to an end. Details: Washington, DC: World Bank Group, 2017. 80p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 11, 2017 at: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/25920/210664ov.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Latin America Keywords: Crime Prevention Shelf Number: 144833 |
Author: Anders, Therese Title: Kicked-out to the Gangs? Crime Spillovers of Deportation Summary: This article studies whether immigration enforcement induces international crime spillovers on “home†countries (where individuals are returned when deported). For this purpose, we use individual and municipal panel data on victimization, safety perceptions, and average violent crime matched with annual deportation flows from the United States to Mexico. To identify causal effects, we exploit the exogenous changes in U.S. immigration laws caused by the terrorist attacks of 2001. These changes induced higher variations on exposure to deportation flows for Mexican municipalities closer to the 28 U.S.-Mexican repatriation points. We find that individuals more exposed to deportation have a higher likelihood of being victims of robberies and also have lower safety perceptions. Deportees, however, are mostly the victims and not the perpetrators of crime. Details: Unpublished paper, 2015. 46p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 16, 2017 at: http://www.sandravrozo.com/uploads/2/9/3/0/29306259/arr-2015.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Latin America Keywords: Crime Spillovers Shelf Number: 146978 |
Author: Mazzitelli, Antonio L. Title: The New Transatlantic Bonanza: Cocaine on Highway 10 Summary: The 10th Parallel marine and aerial routes linking South America and West Africa harbor a long history of trade between the two continents. More recently, these routes have become one of the preferred routes used by Latin American traffickers for shipping multi-tons of cocaine destined for the growing European market. The Parallel's growing importance in cocaine trafficking has made it known as cocaine "Highway 10" among law enforcement. Latin American cocaine trafficking organizations, particularly the Colombian ones, have established stable bases in West Africa, controlling and developing the route. West African facilitators, Nigerians as well as an increasing number of nationals from all countries where shipments are stocked, have developed a stronger capacity for taking over more ambitious and lucrative role in the business as transporters, partners, and final buyers. In one case (Guinea), the West African partner had already started developing his own trafficking and manufacturing capacity, reproducing the patterns that made Colombia the business model of the drug industry. In this reshaped context, of particular concern is the role played by the Colombian FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) as provider of cocaine shipments to West African cocaine entrepreneurs, as well as the impact of drug trafficking money on the financing of terrorist and rebel groups operating in the Sahel-Saharan belt. Details: Miami: Florida International University, Western Hemisphere Security Analysis Center, 2011. 57p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 16, 2017 at: http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=whemsac Year: 2011 Country: Latin America Keywords: Cocaine Shelf Number: 146980 |
Author: Jaitman, Laura Title: The Costs of Crime and Violence: New Evidence and Insights in Latin America and the Caribbean Summary: This publication is the first to provide a comprehensive, systematic, and rigorous analysis of the costs of crime in Latin America and the Caribbean. The main challenges in the region are addressed: the social cost of homicides, private and public spending on security, the penitentiary crisis, violence against women, organized crime, and cybercrime. The volume estimates that the direct cost of crime for 17 LAC countries in 2010-2014 is, on average, 3.5 percent of the region's GDP, twice as much as in the developed world. It also provides a detailed analysis of the costs of crime in Brazil by state, as well as an examination of the geographical distribution and drivers of crime in the most dangerous subregions: the Northern Triangle in Central America and the Caribbean. The situation in terms of violence against women and cybercrime is assessed: the region is lagging behind to confront these new and old crimes. Details: Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2017. 129p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 23, 2017 at: https://publications.iadb.org/bitstream/handle/11319/8133/The-Costs-of-Crime-and-Violence-New-Evidence-and-Insights-in-Latin-America-and-the-Caribbean.pdf?sequence=7 Year: 2017 Country: Latin America Keywords: Costs of Crime Shelf Number: 141203 |
Author: Giannini, Renata Avelar Title: Where is Latin America? Reflections on Peace, Security, Justice and Governance in the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda Summary: Latin American governments and societies played an active role in shaping the United Nations 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. One area where the region came up short, however, relates to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 on peaceful and inclusive societies, access to justice and governance. This Strategic Paper detects a contradiction between the alarming levels of violence and crime in Latin America, and the comparatively low importance attached to SDG 16 during the negotiations from 2013 to the present. The regions's diplomats exhibited varied levels of engagement with the key themes of SDG 16, whether peace, access to justice, rule of law, security or governance. Some governments were concerned with the potential of SDG 16 to securitize development or divert aid away from "core" priorities. Others were uneasy about specific terms, not least the "rule of law". There was no regional consensus on SDG 16 even if governments across the region are prepared to support its current formulation. More positively, Latin America is a hive of innovation and experimentation when it comes to preventing violence, extending justice services, and promoting good governance. As such, the Strategic Paper identifies a number of pathways for governments and civil societies to identify and share lessons from the region. Details: Rio de Janeiro: Igarapé Institute, 2015. 27p. Source: Internet Resource: Strategic Paper 17: Accessed March 4, 2017 at: https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=https://igarape.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/AE-17_Where-is-Latin-America-21-09.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Latin America Keywords: Violence Shelf Number: 141327 |
Author: Carneiro, Leandro Piquet Title: Violent Crime in Latin America Cities: Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo Summary: This report presents the following main results of the Violent Crime in Latin American Cities project: 1. An analysis of the spatial and longitudinal criminal trends at the metropolitan regions of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo from 1983 through 1998. 2. A discussion about the main data source on crime and violence in Brazil succh as police statistics, the mortality data from the health system and victimization surveys. 3. An analysis of the determinants of the individual risks of victimization using Logit regression models. The results allows to estimate the demographic, socio-economic and life-style factors that affects the probability of being or not being a victim of various types of crimes. 4. An analysis of socio-economic determinants of homicide based on Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression models. 5. The analysis of the crime control strategies adopted in the Brazilian cities, based on a extensive bibliographical revision. Details: Sao Paulo: Department of Political Science, University of Sao Paulo, 2000. 129p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 6, 2017 at: http://nupps.usp.br/images/artigos_temp/leandro_Crime&Violence_Rio&SaoPaulo.pdf Year: 2000 Country: Latin America Keywords: Homicides Shelf Number: 79030 |
Author: Muggah, Robert Title: Changes in the Neighborhood: Reviewing Citizen Security Cooperation in Latin America Summary: Latin American and Caribbean countries are experiencing a major transformation in how they cooperate to achieve security and development. On the one hand, reductions in international aid from North America and Western Europe are precipitating regional shifts in regional and domestic priorities. Foreign assistance was traditionally devoted toward mitigating transnational threats such as drug cartels in the Andean region and is increasingly being redirected toward addressing regional and domestic risks among a small group of Central American and Caribbean countries. There is a growing appetite among bilateral agencies, multilateral organizations and national and local governments in adopting preventive approaches to the region's security challenges. The broadening out of conceptions of security is forcing a recalibration of cooperation strategies, including more emphasis on south-south, triangular and regionalized forms of assistance. Latin American and Caribbean countries are beginning to chart a new course with powerhouses such as Brazil, Colombia and Mexico actively exporting their citizen security models across their neighborhood. This Strategic Paper represents the most exhaustive treatment to date of the changing landscapes of international cooperation for citizen security in the region. Details: Rio de Janeiro: Igarape Institute, 2014. 56p. Source: Internet Resource: Strategic Paper 7: Accessed march 9, 2017 at: https://igarape.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/AE-07-Changes-in-the-Neighborhood_10th_march.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Latin America Keywords: Citizen Security Shelf Number: 144384 |
Author: Adams, Tani Marilena Title: How Chronic Violence Affects Human Development, Social Relations, and the Practice of Citizenship: A Systemic Framework for Action Summary: What happens to us when it becomes "normal" everyday life to live with high levels of violence? How does it affect our development as individuals, how we raise our children and relate to others in society, our attitudes and actions as citizens, and the ways we are governed? In this report, Tani Adams describes how living in such conditions affects our lives in myriad and systemic ways. Children fail to flourish; parents are often unable to nurture their children adequately and can turn against them; social relations between individuals and groups become more restricted, polarized, and conflictive; and our role as citizens or participants in the larger community suffers—as do the social support for democracy and the prospects for democratic governance. The Chronic Violence and Human Development Framework developed by Adams systematizes how chronic violence affects human, social, and civic development. It offers a new lens to help policymakers, social activists, scholars, and affected populations to recognize, understand, and approach a global challenge that is hidden in plain sight and that continues to worsen. In her report, Adams describes who is affected by this phenomenon; details the five propositions that make up the Framework; explains how this new "lens" differs from prevailing approaches to the violence challenges; and summarizes key implications for public policy, research, and social action. Details: Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Latin American Program, 2017. 146p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 10, 2017 at: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/chronic_violence_final_by_tani_adams.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Latin America Keywords: Children and Violence Shelf Number: 144435 |
Author: Dudley, Steven Title: The Prison Dilemma: Latin America's Incubators of Organized Crime Summary: Prisons in Latin America and the Caribbean are in crisis. Following a concerted change in legislation that led to more hardline policies, the prison population has skyrocketed and the development of new facilities has not kept pace. The massive overcrowding has created many more problems than incarcerating suspects en masse has resolved. Those incarcerated -- thousands of whom have not even been formally charged with a crime -- live in deplorable, inhumane conditions that leave them vulnerable to coercion and recruitment by ever-more sophisticated criminal gangs. Prison guards, and their police and military counterparts, routinely abuse prisoners and take part in corruption schemes that open the door for more crime. The jails have also become incubators of criminal activity; finishing schools for hardened criminals and places where powerful criminal groups organize, train up their members, recruit and plan further crimes. Many who enter as relatively low-level, non-violent criminals leave as hard-core recidivists. Nevertheless, governments -- while fortifying efforts to capture and prosecute at historic rates -- have been slow to react to the changing circumstances within the jails, leaving space for criminal groups to strengthen themselves, hampering efforts to improve citizen security region-wide and undermining democratic governance.banner download The-prison-dilemma Amidst this chaos, InSight Crime has found during a year-long investigation that numerous types of prison gangs have emerged. • The Inside Prison Gang is formed and functions under the logic of the prison; it frequently controls the most important criminal economies within the jails, such as liquor contraband and illegal drugs. • The Inside/Outside Prison Gang is the most formidable of prison gangs because it exploits the vulnerabilities of the prison system to develop criminal operations both inside and outside of the prisons. • The Insurgent Prison Gang is one that uses its ideology and discipline to exert control over the prison population, often in the interest of furthering its political cause. • The Drug Trafficking Prison Gang uses its huge influx of capital, connections and muscle to dominate the prison drug economy and, in some cases, monitor drug trafficking activities on the outside as well. • The Mara Prison Gang is formidable due to both its size and its ethos: that of exterminating its rival. The propensity of violence between gangs has moved authorities to separate them, thereby inadvertently accelerating their development. • The Military Prison Gang is a mix of ex security forces, which uses its connections and training to control prison economies and, in some cases, much more. To address the issue of prisons, InSight Crime investigated these conditions and the crime they are fostering in Venezuela and Colombia, as well as the Northern Triangle region of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. And it produced a series of case studies on each of these countries, which it is publishing separately. This report is an overview of these findings and a series of recommendations to help remedy some of these problems. Details: s.l.: Insight Crime, 2017. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 10, 2017 at: http://www.insightcrime.org/images/PDFs/2017/The_Prison_Dilemma-Latin_Americas_Incubators_of_Organized_Crime_InSightcrime.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Latin America Keywords: Criminal Networks Shelf Number: 144436 |
Author: Chaparro, Sergio Title: Castigos Irracionales: Leyes de Drogas y Encarcerlmiento en America Latina (People deprived of freedom for drug offenses Summary: The new investigation of the Collective on Persons Detained, Prosecuted and Imprisoned presents statistical information on detention and imprisonment for drug offenses in Latin America. Existing evidence shows that, at the global level, drug policy has involved various costs ranging from social, economic, and institutional costs. The use of prison sanctions entails significant costs for people being detained and imprisoned. It means not only deprivation of liberty but also the violation of other basic rights such as the right to health, limitation to the right to free development of personality, right to freedom of conscience, right to freedom of expression and Charge for their relatives. It also implies, Important costs for their dependents, families and communities who are impoverished by the incarceration of their relative. Our latest study looks at these issues with national and regional data and provides information on how certain sectors are affected by these policies, such as women and youth. The latest information from the DSBB shows how prison rates for drug crime have increased in the countries studied, while a regional debate reinforces the need to explore alternative policies and, in particular, alternatives to incarceration. Countries in the region often impose high penalties for misdemeanors or excessive precautionary measures on people who participate in the lower links of drug trafficking networks (such as mules or small traders). Details: s.l.: Colectivo de Estudios Drogas y Derecho, 2017. 84p. Source: Internet Resource: Informe Regional 2017: Accessed March 17, 2017 at: http://www.drogasyderecho.org/files/Castigos_Irracionales.pdf (in Spanish) Year: 2017 Country: Latin America Keywords: Costs of Corrections Shelf Number: 144480 |
Author: Petrie, Dennis Title: Interface of Churches and Organised Crime in Latin America Summary: Structural violence – in its diverse forms – has become one of the main concerns for Latin American citizens and their governments. Its effects are clearly visible in a number of Latin American countries (mainly Mexico, the Northern Triangle of Central America and Colombia), corrupting government institutions and distorting the overall functioning of society by creating a culture of fear and impunity. In other countries (Costa Rica, Panama, Andes, Southern Cone), organized crime is less visible but still present. "Organised crime" is an umbrella term that includes a broad range of illegal and criminal activities and organisations. In Latin America, organised crime groups - ranging from youth gangs to paramilitary organisations - operate in transnational networks, consisting of professionally organized chains of violence and terror. These organisations are generally not ideological but driven by drug trafficking and to a lesser extent dedicated to other forms of criminal activity such as arms trafficking, human trafficking, extortions, hired killings, kidnappings etc. Faced with the growing influence of organised crime in society, churches should not remain silent. The Gospel teaches the pursuit of public justice and the transformation of society through the love of Christ as leading principles for the social involvement of Jesus' disciples. This world view radically contradicts the logics and dynamics of organised crime. Yet, the actual response and attitude of church leaders and their members to organised crime has scarcely been investigated. At this moment there are no comprehensive studies on the relationship between organised crime in Latin America and the churches. It is not clear to what extent the churches actually constitute a threat to organised crime. The objective of this report is to contribute to the understanding of the influence of (the constellation of) organised crime groups on the functioning of the churches. Specifically, this report will seek to give answers to the following questions: 1. In which countries in Latin America is organised crime remarkably present? Specify also specific regions within the countries. 2. What is known in literature about tensions or conflicts between churches (leaders, members) and organised crime groups? 3. Are pastors or church members afraid to address issues related to practices of organised crime groups and their allies in society or in public? 4. Are pastors or church members afraid to address issues related to practices of organised crime groups and their allies within their churches? In order to respond to these questions, this report will firstly give a general description of the context of organised crime in Latin America (I., research question 1). Subsequently, an analysis will be made of the relationship between churches and their members, and organised crime groups (II., research questions 3-4), followed by a descriptive survey of the available literature on the topic (III., research question 2). Finally, a number of conclusions will be formulated (IV.). Being a desk research, this report is only an initial effort to broach the complex issue of the relationship between churches and organised crime. Its main sources are literature research, complemented by interviews. The interviews turned out to be the most valuable source of information, since literature on the topic is scarce. There are virtually no analytical reports on the impact of organised crime on churches. The only information that can be found are compilations of testimonies, but no in depth studies of the social, political and cultural dynamics of persecution in areas affected by organised crime Details: s.l.: Open Doors, 2012. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 27, 2017 at: http://theanalytical.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Interface-of-Churches-and-Organised-Crime-in-Latin-America-2012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Latin America Keywords: Churches Shelf Number: 144586 |
Author: Corda, Alejandro Title: Cannabis in Latin America and the Caribbean: From punishment to regulation Summary: Cannabis (or marihuana) is one of the most widely consumed psychoactive substances in the world. According to the United Nations World Drug Report, 183 million people, or 3.8% of the world's population, used cannabis in 2014. Its cultivation was also reported by 129 countries. Cannabis is subject to the United Nations System for International Control of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (hereafter "drugs") and is the most widely consumed of all the drugs. According to that control system, cannabis is among the substances with the strictest legal status; they are the most prohibited, supposedly because of the harm they cause and their lack of medical usefulness. Nevertheless, its medicinal, spiritual and social use has been recorded in different places and times in human history, without serious associated consequences. Its prohibition began in the early 20th century, even though there were - and are - no records of overdose deaths, and public health risks are relatively low, even compared to other psychoactive substances with less strict legal status, such as alcohol and tobacco. Unlike other substances subject to control, which are produced in only certain regions of the world, cannabis is cultivated, produced and consumed worldwide. Some countries, however, have historically been regional producers or have a longer history or closer ties with the plant. On the American continent, this is true of Mexico in North America, Jamaica in the Caribbean, and Paraguay and Colombia in South America. Proposals for regulation of the cannabis market have been on the table for a number of years. The movement of users and growers has placed the issue on the social, political and media agenda, and there have been some reforms. One example is Uruguay, where the decision was made to regulate the market for cannabis for any kind of use. In other countries, however, reforms have been limited to regulating systems of access to cannabis for medicinal or therapeutic use. Although the international drug control system considers the possibility of "medical and scientific" use of cannabis, prejudices about the substance have hampered the development of regulations and acceptance by Western medicine. In fact, many "reforms" related to medicinal cannabis required only modification of low-level regulations. This means that a proposal being presented as novel is actually something that should always have existed. Key points The prohibitionist approach imposed on cannabis by the international drug control system still persists in nearly all of the Latin American and Caribbean countries examined. In almost all of them, possession falls under criminal law. Some countries' legislation establishes thresholds below which cannabis possession should not be considered a crime. Only in Uruguay does the law include regulation of the entire chain. Although cannabis organizations and other groups have managed to place the issue on the agenda, in most countries reforms are still pending or have been inadequate. The inclusion of relatives and users of cannabis for medicinal and therapeutic purposes has helped give impetus to the movement and to raise awareness among both political stakeholders and the public. Many of the reforms under way do not recognize the need to regulate the recreational and cultural use of cannabis and run the risk of perpetuating the current consequences, with the persistent impact on health, security, institutionality and human rights that the prohibition of cannabis and the lack of state regulation allow and encourage. The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean should prepare for future reform scenarios, instead of considering temporary measures that will perpetuate the same harmful consequences. Limiting reform solely to medicinal cannabis is only a partial, inadequate and temporary solution. If change is truly sought, it is necessary to move toward models of state regulation of cannabis for all purposes. Details: Amsterdam: Transnational Institute, 2016. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Drug policy Briefing no. 48: Accessed April 6, 2017 at: https://www.tni.org/files/publication-downloads/dpb_48_eng_web_def.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Cannabis Shelf Number: 144729 |
Author: Olson, Eric L. Title: Improving Citizen Security in the Americas: Why Taking an Urban Approach is Warranted Summary: The urbanization of the world's population has been underway for many decades. In Latin America, over 75 percent of the population lives in cities, and this number is expected to reach approximately 90 percent by 2050 (Muggah 2014, 351). With urbanization has come a wide variety of challenges, including water and sanitation; urban planning and transportation; housing, education, and healthcare; and environmental concerns. It is not surprising, then, that cities and metropolitan areas also experience special challenges with crime and public security. This is especially the case in Latin America, a region that faces some of the highest rates of urban violence in the world (Muggah 2014, 351). According to one analysis, Latin America contains 43 of the world's 50 most violent cities (CCSPJP 2015). The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) produces one of the most widely cited sources of information on homicides worldwide. While the UNODC offers data about urban homicide rates, most of the public debate centers around national-level figures expressed in terms of deaths per 100,000. In 2016, for example, El Salvador was reported as the country with the highest homicide rate-an alarming 81.2 homicides per 100,000 (Gagne 2017). At the regional level, Latin America also fared poorly: a UNODC report on global homicide stated that the Central and South American sub-regions experienced the second and third highest homicide levels, preceded only by Southern Africa (UNODC 2013). According to a criminality index generated by security consulting firm Verisk Maplecroft, five of the ten countries with the highest risk for criminal violence are in Latin America: Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, Venezuela, and El Salvador. National and regional levels of homicide and crime, however, can actually paint a misleading picture of security at the local level. Many specific areas in the region, especially urban areas, experience rates of violence much higher (or lower) than average. For this reason, stemming urban violence at the local level and addressing the underlying factors driving this phenomenon has been an increasingly important policy concern for Latin American governments, the international donor community, and U.S. policymakers in particular. Security is a main concern for the public as well: in 2014, one out of every three adults in the Americas reported that crime, insecurity, or violence was the main problem facing their country (Zeichmeister 2014). In this paper, we seek to summarize some of the principal characteristics and drivers of urban violence in order to develop more targeted and effective policies to address it. First, we discuss how major structural problems like youth unemployment and inequality are related to common crime, organized crime, and violence. We emphasize the importance of understanding the local nature of urban violence and its tendency to occur and persist in specific geographic locations. Next, we look at some examples from the region that shed light on, and in some cases, confirm these ideas. Finally, we offer a series of policy options for addressing one of the region's most persistent and vexing challenges Details: Washington, DC: Wilson Center, Latin American Program, 2017. 15p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 6, 2017 at: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/citizen_security_policy_brief_final.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Latin America Keywords: Citizen Security Shelf Number: 144739 |
Author: UNICEF Title: Juvenile Justice Systems: Good Practices in Latin America Summary: During the last ten years, nearly all Latin American countries have taken greater or lesser steps to incorporate these new approaches to juvenile justice into their legal orders, with Mexico, Columbia, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay remaining the furthest behind. The establishment of these new systems inevitably implies the development of an institutional capacity that can make possible their application. Over and beyond the technical know-how, there needs to be a real commitment on the part of states to take the required measures for ensuring an adequate operation of the agencies and institutions provided for in the law. Moreover, it requires creating a culture of respect for children's rights, not only in the institutions involved but in the larger society as a whole. UNICEF has been working in collaboration with Latin American countries to advance this process, mostly by advocating on behalf of the creation and implementation of specialised juvenile justice systems and by providing support through technical assistance and training for the various sectors involved. This document presents some of the best initiatives that have been developed in the field of juvenile justice. They are recognised as successful for having achieved exceptionally relevant results in fostering protective enviroment for the rights of adolescents, all in a manner consistent with the mandate and framework of the CRC, The criteria used for selecting these practices were established by the Child Protection Section at UNICEF’s Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (TACRO). They included the following factors: a) The positive impact of the practice on the targeted population; b) The incorporation of the principles of non-discrimination, the best interests of the child, and the participation of adolescents; c) The application of Articles 37 and 40 of the CRC, the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice, the United Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency, and the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty; d) The development of alliances with civil society and the private sector; e) The strategies employed in implementing programmes and in overcoming difficult obstacles; and f) The sustainability of the practices. The countries selected by the Child Protection Section of TACRO were Brazil, Costa Rica, Chile, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama. There have undoubtedly The roster of questions used in the interviewing instrument is included at the end of this document as an appendix. ICEF/HQOO-0800/Donna DeCesare 7 been other successful experiences producing similarly positive results, both in the selected countries as well as in other parts of the region. Nonetheless, the selected practices have been included by virtue of the important role that UNICEF programming has played in the success of each example. In the course of preparing this document, all of the key people involved in each case were interviewed. This included officials from UNICEF as well as from judicial and executive branches of government, civil society organisations, and adolescents along with their families.5 To complete the study, UNICEF also collected relevant statistical information and secondary documentation that could assist in the analysis of each selected experience. The ultimate objective of this recompilation of examples is to demonstrate how programming based in a child rights and human rights approach, together with the commitment to comply with the CRC on the part of communities and states, worked to produce positive changes on behalf of children while having favourable repercussions on the larger society. Details: Panama, Republic of Panama; UNICEF, 2006. 76p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 21, 2017 at: https://www.unicef.org/lac/JUSTICIA_PENALingles.pdf Year: 2006 Country: Latin America Keywords: Juvenile Justice Reform Shelf Number: 145070 |
Author: Chaparro, Sergio Title: Irrational Punishment: Drug Laws and Incarceration in Latin America Summary: The new study by The Research Consortium on Drugs and the Law (CEDD) provides recent statistical information on those who are detained, prosecuted and incarcerated for drug offenses in Latin America. Existing evidence shows that around the world, drug policies have produced social, economic, institutional and other costs. The use of penal sanctions also implies costs for those who have been and are incarcerated. The costs are not only borne by those who are incarcerated, but also on their dependents, families and communities. Children of incarcerated parents, though they themselves have commited no crimes, can be pushed deeper into poverty or left homeless. Our most recent study illustrates these issues with national and regional data and provides information on how these policies affect specific sectors of the population, such as women and minors. The most recent information produced by CEDD shows how incarceration rates have increased for drug offenses in the countries studied, even as a widespread regional debate takes place on the need to explore alternative drug policies and, in particular, alternatives to incarceration. Countries across the region often impose mandatory preventative detention and harsh penalties for low-level crimes on people who participate in the lowest levels of drug trafficking networks (such as drug couriers or small-scale dealers). The vast majority of those put behind bars are easily replaced and therefore their incarceration makes no dent in the drug trade. Based on this research, CEDD calls for fundamental reform of drug laws and their implementation in Latin America. Details: s.l.: The Research Consortium on Drugs and the Law (Colectivo de Estudios Drogas y Derecho, CEDD) , 2017. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 21, 2017 at: http://www.drogasyderecho.org/files/Irrational_Punishments_ok.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Enforcement Shelf Number: 145135 |
Author: Washington Office of Latin America Title: Women, Drug Policies, and Incarceration: A Guide for Policy Reform in Latin America and the Caribbean Summary: The use of prison as a response to drugs has had a disproportionate negative impact on women. In Argentina, Brazil, and Costa Rica, more than 60 percent of the female prison population is incarcerated for drug-related offenses. Many of them have low levels of education, live in poverty, and are the primary caregivers of dependent persons -children, young people, the elderly, and the disabled. Even though they bear the brunt of punitive policies, these women rarely pose a threat to society. Most are arrested for low-level yet high-risk tasks (small-scale drug distribution or transporting drugs); they become involved to overcome poverty, or at times due to coercion by a partner or relative. Their incarceration contributes little if anything to dismantling illegal drug markets or improving public security. To the contrary, prison tends to worsen the situation, further limiting their chances of finding decent and legal employment when released from prison, thus perpetuating a vicious cycle of poverty, involvement in drug markets, and incarceration. he incarceration of women-caregivers in particular-can have devastating consequences for their families and communities. In the absence of strong social protection networks, their dependents are exposed to situations of abandonment and marginality. Indeed, the women's incarceration may, paradoxically, increase the likelihood of persons in their care consuming drugs or becoming involved in illegal trafficking networks. This, in turn, increases the demand on governments to provide social services, an area that is often neglected. It is time to acknowledge that current drug policies have resulted in the excessive criminalization and incarceration of women. These policies must be reviewed in order to reduce the female prison population. Drug policies should be developed based on the fundamental legal principle that incarceration should only be used as a last resort. Fundamental drug law reforms are needed throughout the region, so that low-level offenses committed by women or men can be addressed by alternatives to incarceration and by ensuring that the penalties are proportional to the offenses committed. In addition, special attention should be given to the gender perspective in developing, implementing, and evaluating legislative and drug policy reforms. Criminal justice systems should be capable of taking attenuating circumstances into account, for example in the case of women who have dependents in their care, or pregnant women. In no case should women who are accused or convicted of non-violent drug crimes go to jail; instead alternatives to incarceration should be implemented. Indeed, alternatives to incarceration are less costly and less harmful responses, and more effective for addressing drug-related offenses. This guide for policymakers offers a road map of policy reforms based on a human rights and public health framework and from a gender perspective. It includes a set of guiding principles relevant for countries across the region and offers an array of concrete public policy recommendations covering seven specific categories:more inclusive drug policies; drug policy reforms; alternatives to incarceration; cultivation and drug processing; social inclusion programs; women who are pregnant or have dependents;and data collection and analysis. This guide is a tool for those interested in developing and implementing more humane and effective drug policies. Details: Washington, DC: WOLA, 2016. 50p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 28, 2017 at: https://www.wola.org/sites/default/files/WOLA%20WOMEN%20FINAL%20ver%2025%2002%201016.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Laws Shelf Number: 146176 |
Author: Domanick, Joe Title: Communicating to Build Trust: A Best Practices Guide for Law Enforcement Specialists in Latin America and the Caribbean Summary: This guidebook seeks to provide communicators with the practical tools and recommendations to do a better job, particularly in their dealings with reporters on issues from crisis management, violence against women, to reporting on crime statistics, among others. The aim is help build trust among all actors involved. Having the police communicate in a more professional way with the media (and its broader audiences through social media) is helpful not only to the police but to journalists, too, who can then report relevant news more accurately and fairly. Details: Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2016. 68p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 1, 2017 at: https://publications.iadb.org/bitstream/handle/11319/7829/Communicating-to-Build-Trust-A-Best-Practices-Guide-for-Law-Enforcement-Specialists-in-Latin-America-and-the-Caribbean.pdf?sequence=11 Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Law Enforcement Shelf Number: 145225 |
Author: Hughes, Michael C. Title: Merida Initiative and Effectiveness: An Analysis of Supply-Side Policy Summary: The drug war in Latin America has received an increasing amount of funds and resources since it began nearly four decades ago. Recent efforts by the United States and Mexico to combat illegal narcotics traffickers have gained increased attention in the wake of September 2001 terrorist attacks. Similar efforts by the United States have been tried in the past, particularly in Colombia, with varied levels of success. This increased level of attention runs in counterpoint to the continued vitality of the drug trade, as markets expand and consumption remains steady. Violence resulting from drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) in Mexico has produced an even greater sense of urgency for both nations to respond to this threat. The latest plan to combat DTOs and the drug trade, the Merida Initiative, has gained high visibility and shows promise at providing an adequate solution. This thesis will discuss the effectiveness of the Merida Initiative and its ability to impact the trafficking of illegal narcotics in the United States and Latin America. Likewise, we will use the Merida Initiative as an example of modern supply- side practices, to evaluate the overall effect of such actions affecting price and consumption of illegal narcotics. Details: Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School, 2013. 104p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed May 12, 2017 at: http://calhoun.nps.edu/bitstream/handle/10945/34680/13Jun_Hughes_Michael.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Year: 2013 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 131352 |
Author: Dos Ramos, Michele Title: Citizen security in Latin America Summary: Over the past two decades, new policies were implemented in various Latin American countries leading to positive impacts in terms of poverty and inequality reduction. In 2008, the region achieved the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day. Nevertheless, Latin America is still the most violent region in the world: while it is home to only 8% of the world's population, it accounts for 38% of homicides. Moreover, among the 10 countries with the highest rates of lethal violence against women in the world, 8 are in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). On average, 144,000 people a year are killed in the region, which has 44 of the 50 most homicidal countries and 23 of the 25 most murderous cities in the world. Details: Paris: European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), 2017. 2p. Source: Internet Resource: Alert - No 14 ; Accessed May 26, 2017 at: http://www.iss.europa.eu/uploads/media/Alert_14_Citizen_security_LAC.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Latin America Keywords: Crime Statistics Shelf Number: 145808 |
Author: Luengo-Cabrera, Jose Title: The economic impact of violence in LAC: implications for the EU Summary: Violence and the fear of violence create, inter alia, significant economic disruptions. While violent incidents incur costs in the form of property damage, physical injury or psychological trauma, fear of violence alters economic behaviour, primarily by perturbing consumer patterns but also in diverting public and private resources away from productive activities and towards protective measures. Combined, they generate significant welfare losses in the form of productivity shortfalls, foregone earnings and distorted expenditure - all of which affect the price of goods and services. Measuring the scale and cost of violence has, therefore, important implications for assessing the effects it has on economic activity. Details: Paris: European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), 2017. 4p. Source: Internet Resource: Brief no. 16: Accessed May 26, 2017 at: http://www.iss.europa.eu/uploads/media/Brief_16_Violence_in_LAC.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Latin America Keywords: Cost of Violence Shelf Number: 145809 |
Author: World Bank Title: Avoiding crime in Latin America and the Caribbean Summary: An Enterprise Survey is a firm-level survey of a representative sample of an economy's private sector. The surveys cover a broad range of business environment topics including access to finance, competition, corruption, crime, gender, infrastructure, innovation, labor, performance measures, and trade. The World Bank has collected this data from face-to-face interviews with top managers and business owners in over 130,000 companies in more than 135 economies. Details: Washington, DC: World Bank Group. 2014. 6p. Source: Internet Resource: Enterprise surveys Latin America and the Caribbean series ; note no. 7 Accessed June 2, 2017 at: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/214311468017359872/pdf/922840BRI0Box3070Avoiding0Crime0LAC.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Latin America Keywords: Economics of Crime Shelf Number: 145900 |
Author: Garzon Vergara, Juan Carlos Title: What is the relationship between organized crime and homicide in Latin America? Summary: Criminal and gang violence is believed to generate as much as a third of all homicides in the Western hemisphere. In some countries where collective violence is acute, this may well be true. But it is only part of the story. Organized crime groups can also reduce the extent of lethal violence in a given setting: they often regulate murder and violent crime. The extent to which such entities exert control is often in direct proportion to the relative fragility of state institutions. Where public authorities are unable to exert a monopoly over the use of force, criminal actors step in. This Homicide Dispatch critically examines the relationships between organized crime and lethal violence. In the process, it shines a light on the challenges facing public authorities intent on fighting crime. Owing to the inherent weaknesses of many governments across Latin America, they have only limited ability to reduce homicidal violence. It is only by shoring up the state's ability to guarantee fundamental rights that meaningful improvements will be possible. Details: Rio de Janeiro: Igarape Institute, 2016. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: Homicide Dispatch 3: Accessed August 7, 2017 at: https://igarape.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Homicide-Dispatch_3_EN_23-05.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Gang-Related Violence Shelf Number: 146754 |
Author: Realuyo, Celina B. Title: "Following the Money Trail" to Combat Terrorism, Crime, and Corruption in the Americas Summary: Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the United States and its Latin American partners have strengthened their ability to combat money laundering and terrorist financing and consciously incorporated the financial instrument of national power into their national security strategies. "Following the money trail," counterterrorism, and Drug Kingpin sanctions and asset forfeiture have become particularly important to attack narco-insurgencies, dismantle transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and address political corruption scandals that have reached the highest levels of governments across Latin America. This paper will focus on the threats from money laundering and terrorist financing, distinguishing the two, and explain government efforts to counter illicit financing. It will describe the ways illicit actors raise, move, store, and use money to pursue their dangerous agendas. Specific cases examining the FARC in Colombia, the 2015 fall of the Guatemalan government, and Brazil's "Operation Car Wash" corruption scandal will illustrate how governments use financial intelligence to pursue terrorists, criminals, corrupt politicians, and their financiers n Latin America. Finally, this paper will emphasize the need to design, implement, and constantly update national and international strategies to combat the financing of emerging threats like terrorism, crime, and corruption and to safeguard our financial systems. Details: Washington, DC: Latin American Program, Mexico Institute, Wilson Center, 2017. 20p. Source: Accessed August 8, 2017 at: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/follow_the_money_final_0.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Latin America Keywords: Counter-Terrorism Shelf Number: 146776 |
Author: Chioda, Laura Title: Stop the Violence in Latin America : A Look at Prevention from Cradle to Adulthood Summary: The Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region has the undesirable distinction of being the world's most violent region, with 24.7 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. The magnitude of the problem is staggering and persistent. Of the top 50 most violent cities in the world, 42 are in LAC. In 2010 alone, 142,302 people in LAC fell victim to homicide, representing 390 homicides per day and 4.06 homicides every 15 minutes. Crime disproportionately affects young men aged 20 to 24, whose homicide rate of 92 per 100,000 nearly quadruples that of the region. The focus of Crime Prevention in Latin America and the Caribbean is to identify policy interventions that, whether by design or indirect effect, have been shown to affect antisocial behavior early in life and patterns of criminal offending in youth and adults. Particular attention is devoted to recent studies that rigorously establish a causal link between the interventions in question and outcomes. This publication adopts a lifecycle perspective and argues that as individuals progress through different stages of the lifecycle, not only do different sets of risk factors arise and take more prominence, but their interactions and inter-dependencies shape human behavior. These interactions and the relative importance of different sets of risk factors identify relevant margins that can effectively be targeted by prevention policies, not only early in life, but throughout the lifecycle. Indeed prevention can never start too early, nor start too late, nor be too comprehensive. Details: Washington, DC: World Bank Group, 2017. 425p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 1, 2017 at: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/25920 Year: 2017 Country: Latin America Keywords: Crime Prevention Shelf Number: 146988 |
Author: Casas-Zamora, Kevin Title: The Besieged Polis: Citizen Insecurity and Democracy in Latin America Summary: Latin America remains a region plagued by high levels of violent crime and widespread perceptions of insecurity, threats that jeopardize democratic stability and state viability. In a new Brookings monograph, The Besieged Polis: Citizen Insecurity and Democracy in Latin America, former senior fellow and current OAS Secretary for Political Affairs Kevin Casas-Zamora examines the nexus of citizen insecurity and democracy. He argues that democratic consolidation in Latin America requires a sustained and multi-pronged effort to reduce crime rates. The monograph, co-published with the Organization of American States, focuses on the inverse relationship between perceived insecurity and trust in government institutions, and presents alarming findings regarding the state of insecurity and democracy in the region: The perception of insecurity in Latin America is extremely acute, homogenous, and on the rise, according to all available indicators. Victimization and perceived insecurity are inversely correlated to support for democracy and trust in government institutions, negatively correlated to levels of social tolerance and trust between neighbors, and positively correlated with support for "iron-fisted" solutions - including coups d'etat - to national problems. The region's obvious vulnerabilities (inequality in income distribution; a severe lack of trust in police and judicial institutions; lack of social integration opportunities for young people) seem to be associated with the high levels of violent crime. Widespread crime compromises the state's monopoly of legitimate coercion, evidenced by the rapid growth of weakly regulated private security companies and the proliferation of "black spots" where the state's authority has been seriously compromised. A course correction is clearly needed. The Besieged Polis offers concrete and comprehensive policy recommendations to address citizen insecurity and ensure a better future for democracy in Latin America. These include: Reframing the discussion about crime to include more comprehensive strategies for social development, especially for youth; Democratizing the debate on ways to address crime to include parliaments and other key actors; Boosting horizontal and vertical coordination of citizen security policies; Modernizing law enforcement institutions and investing in information; Improving policy-community relations; and Increasing the presence of state authorities in problem areas. Details: Washington, DC: Brookings Institution. Latin America Initiative; Organization of American States, 2013. 112p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 6, 2017 at: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/citizen-insecurity-casas-zamora.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Latin America Keywords: Citizen Security Shelf Number: 147036 |
Author: Galiani, Sebastian Title: Shelter from the Storm: Upgrading Housing Infrastructure in Latin American Slums Summary: This paper provides empirical evidence on the causal effects that upgrading slum dwellings has on the living conditions of the extremely poor. In particular, we study the impact of providing better houses in situ to slum dwellers in El Salvador, Mexico and Uruguay. We experimentally evaluate the impact of a housing project run by the NGO TECHO which provides basic pre-fabricated houses to members of extremely poor population groups in Latin America. The main objective of the program is to improve household well-being. Our findings show that better houses have a positive effect on overall housing conditions and general well-being: treated households are happier with their quality of life. In two countries, we also document improvements in children's health; in El Salvador, slum dwellers also feel that they are safer. We do not find this result, however, in the other two experimental samples. There are no other noticeable robust effects on the possession of durable goods or in terms of labor outcomes. Our results are robust in terms of both internal and external validity because they are derived from similar experiments in three different Latin American countries. Details: Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2014. 49p. Source: Internet Resource: IDB Working Paper Series ; 528: Accessed November 7, 2017 at: https://www.poverty-action.org/sites/default/files/publications/IDB-WP-528-martinez-paper-shelter-from-the-storm.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Latin America Keywords: Poverty Shelf Number: 148069 |
Author: Pring, Coralie Title: People and Corruption: Latin America and the Caribbean Summary: This new report from the Global Corruption Barometer series is based on surveys with over 22,000 citizens living in 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. We asked about first-hand experiences of bribery in public services and perceptions of the scale of corruption. Our report comes at a time when governments around the world are having to pay greater attention to tackling corruption as the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - an ambitious set of 17 global goals - calls on governments to "substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms" (Goal 16.5). Details: Berlin: Transparency International, 2017. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 13, 2017 at: https://www.transparency.org/_view/publication/7983 Year: 2017 Country: Latin America Keywords: Bribery Shelf Number: 148159 |
Author: ECPAT International Title: The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Latin America: Developments, progress, challenges and recommended strategies for civil society Summary: Although the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) has gained increased visibility in recent years, children and youth are more at risk than ever of being sexually exploited; the Latin America Region is no exception. This Overview includes information and analysis on CSEC in Spanish-speaking countries in South and Central America and the Dominican Republic. Despite overall economic progress in the region, persistent social problems - unequal income distribution, heavy dependence on the informal sector, political instability and high prevalence of crime and violence - impact negatively on development. Large numbers of children are living in poverty. Indigenous and Afro-Latin minorities and women experience especially high incidence of poverty, as well as discrimination and, in the case of women, violence. Other underlying factors contributing to the growth of CSEC in the Region include high levels of youth migration to urban areas; the presence of gangs and organised criminal networks involved in all forms of trafficking; and traditional cultural norms and practices that tolerate violence against women and children, as well as prostitution. Estimates indicate that 2 million children are victims of CSEC in the region. Specific Manifestations of CSEC Prostitution: The use of children in prostitution is common across Latin America. In most cases, these businesses are controlled by, or have close relationships, with criminal groups and networks involved in smuggling. Children forced into prostitution are often perceived as criminals rather than victims, both in communities and by law enforcement. Trafficking: Latin American countries are source, transit and destination countries for human trafficking, exacerbated by porous borders that contribute to cross-border trafficking of arms, drugs and people. In the Americas, around 27% of victims of trafficking are under 18 years of age, and more than 50% are trafficked for sexual purposes. The dearth of measures to enforce anti-trafficking laws, combined with high levels of mobility, combine to facilitate the trafficking of children for sexual purposes. Child Sex Tourism: Steady increases in the number of travelers to the Region have reportedly led to increased demand for sexual activity with children, especially by tourists from European countries and the United States and during large-scale sports or cultural events. As this phenomenon increases, new forms of recruitment and venues for exploitation are evolving, such as real and virtual "tour guides" and house rentals by tourists where vulnerable children are brought to serve as prostitutes or as subjects of child pornography. CSEC and ICTs: The expansion in information and communication technologies (ICTs), combined with the increased popularity of cyber cafes and a lack of child protection measures, has exposed more and more Latin American children and adolescents to online threats and vulnerabilities, including grooming for online and offline exploitation and "sexting". ICTs are also being used increasingly make the prostitution of children less visible, often most arrangements are made online or via cell phone, and for the distribution of child abuse images. Details: Bangkok, Thailand: ECPAT International, 2014. 62p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 5, 2017 at: http://www.ecpat.org/wp-content/uploads/legacy/Regional%20CSEC%20Overview_Latin%20America%20(English).pdf Year: 2014 Country: Latin America Keywords: Child Pornography Shelf Number: 148723 |
Author: Garzon, Juan Carlos Title: Mafia & Co.,: The Criminal Networks in Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia Summary: Mafia & Co. provides an analytical perspective of the inner workings and expansion of organized crime in three Latin American countries. Juan Carlos Garzon, a Colombian political scientist, provides a comparative investigation looking specifically at criminal networks in Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil. Details: Washington, DC, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Latin American Program, 2008. 190p. Source: Internet Resource: accessed January 22, 2018 at: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/mafiaandcompany_reducedsize.pdf Year: 2008 Country: Latin America Keywords: Criminal Networks Shelf Number: 121335 |
Author: Navarro, Karla Estrada Title: Protect the Children! Boys and girls migrating unaccompanied from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, 2014-August 2017 Summary: The focus of the research is on unaccompanied children in the Americas moving within and from the "Northern Triangle" of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, through Mexico to rejoin family members in the US. The report also describes the two programmes that ICMC has been supporting on the ground with its members and partners in Honduras and Mexico. The researcher-writer of the publication was ICMC former Research Associate Karla Estrada Navarro. According to UNICEF (link is external) in 2016, "around the world, nearly 50 million children have migrated across borders or been forcibly displaced" - and this is only a rough estimate. With this study, ICMC is responding to the call of Pope Francis "to work towards protection, integration and long-term solutions related to migrant children and adolescents"-to be an agent of change in the issue of unaccompanied child migration in the Central American region, with recommendations addressing drivers and effects of displacement of migrant children. Details: Geneva, SWIT: International Catholic Migration Commission, 2018. 50p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 6, 2018 at: https://www.icmc.net/sites/default/files/documents/protect-the-children-latin-america-research-publication.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Latin America Keywords: Child Immigrants Shelf Number: 148993 |
Author: Rozo, Sandra Title: Deportation, Crime, and Victimization Summary: We study whether the forced removal of undocumented immigrants from the United States increases crime and victimization in Mexican municipalities. Using individual and municipal panel data on victimization, safety perceptions, and violent crime matched with annual deportation flows from the United States to Mexico, we assess whether municipalities and individuals in closer proximity to geographic repatriation points experience higher crime and perceived insecurity with surges in deportation flows. We also assess the degree to which victimization is concentrated on repatriated immigrants themselves. We find that individuals with greater geographic exposure to deportation flows have a higher likelihood of being victims of robberies and also experience lower perceived personal safety. Deportees themselves are most likely to be the victims not perpetrators of crime. Details: Unpublished paper, 2016. 47p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 5, 2018 at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2833484 Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Deportation Shelf Number: 149313 |
Author: Roper, Laura Title: Strategic Review of the Program to Prevent Gender-Based Violence: El Salvador and Guatemala, National level, 2013-2015 Summary: Oxfam America's Campaign for the Prevention of Gender-Based Violence (CPVG) was launched in 2005 in El Salvador. Targeting both national and municipal government and using a creative combination of popular campaigning, research, innovative capacitybuilding with a range of actors, and lobbying, Oxfam America and its partners and allies successfully placed Gender-Based Violence (GBV) prevention on the policy agenda. From there, these efforts helped forge an unexpected political alliance so that legislators from the two main, and widely divergent, political parties approved the Comprehensive Special Law for a Life Free from Violence for Women, known as LEIV by its Spanish acronym, in 2011. Seeing the potential of this approach to address the scourge of GBV, Oxfam America introduced the program in Guatemala in 2010. In the aftermath of this policy success and other related policy advances, the campaign revised its strategy and shifted its "focus on the application of new laws and policies in both El Salvador and Guatemala. It [looked] for political openings in different spaces on multiple levels: central, departmental, and municipal. This phase [had] a strong focus on generational change - in seeing youth (both male and female) as primary actors who can radically change the collective imagery with respect to gender relations and the decisions they can make to prevent gender-based violence." Under the new formulation, the Program for the Prevention of Gender-Based Violence (PPGV) continued to work with women at the community level to empower them to exercise their rights; to work with both boys and girls and adolescents in public schools to change their attitudes and practices regarding gender roles and the permissibility of GBV in the home, school, or community; to work with municipalities and women's organizations in inter-institutional spaces to further develop and implement GBV prevention strategies and activities; and to achieve implementation of public policies through the strengthening of social and institutional mechanisms for the obligatory application of national and local laws. This focus was meant to capitalize on the formal, systemic change Oxfam had helped foster, taking advantage of legal frameworks in each country that had a series of laws addressing domestic violence, gender-based violence, laws against trafficking, and laws and policies related to the rights of the child and gender equality. At the same time, it sought to address informal norms, beliefs, and practices regarding GBV in a broader context of societal (gang) violence and a culture of impunity that disempowers the public. FOCUS AND METHODOLOGY OF STRATEGIC REVIEW This strategic review, which covers program implementation between 2013 and 2015, focuses primarily on activities at the national level within the judicial, legal, and, to some extent, educational systems, with some attention of the interface at the municipal level. The review is based primarily on open-ended, semi-structured key informant interviews conducted in Guatemala and El Salvador over a two-week period in January. These interviews were held with government officials engaged with the program; cofunding/collaborating organizations such as UNESCO, UNICEF, USAID/CHECCHI, Educo, and UN Women; and three partner organizations consisting of the Foundation for Justice and Gender, the Cultural Association for Performing Arts (Escenica), and the Association of Women of Santa Tecla. Additional material was gathered from document review of Oxfam and the Foundation of Justice and Gender (FJG) reports and primary source material from government websites. Finally, two one-day validation exercises were held in San Salvador on March 15, 2016 and in Guatemala on March 17, 2016. Relevant commentary and ideas from these sessions have been incorporated in this draft. There were several design limitations, principally very limited time in Guatemala, relatively limited documentation on the program, and inability to coordinate with the consultant doing a review of the community-level work. Consequently, there are some information gaps in the document, but sufficient information to draw strong conclusions in some areas and more qualified ones in others. Details: Boston: Oxfam America, 2016. 69p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 20, 2018 at: https://www.oxfamamerica.org/static/media/files/Strategic_Review_of_the_Program_to_Prevent_Gender-based_Violence_-_Final_Report_2015.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Family Violence Shelf Number: 149540 |
Author: Cooper, Caroline S. Title: Establishing Drug Treatment Courts: Strategies, Experiences and Preliminary Outcomes. Volume One: Overview and Survey Results Summary: Drug dependence is a chronic relapsing disorder that must be addressed and treated as a public health matter, on a par with the treatment of other chronic diseases.2 It is a cluster of behavioral, cognitive and physiological phenomena that develop after repeated substance use and that typically include a strong desire to take the drug, difficulties in controlling its use, persisting in its use despite harmful consequences, a higher priority given to drug use than to other activities and obligations, increased tolerance, and sometimes a physical withdrawal state.3 Heavy drug use is found more frequently among offenders than among the general population, as shown by a number of studies in the Western Hemisphere and Europe.4 Using Goldstein's conceptual model,5 acquisitive crime to support a compulsive drug habit represents a fair proportion of crimes committed by offenders with substance abuse problems. Offenses committed under the influence of drugs or alcohol, according to self-reports in some countries, represent an even higher percentage of crimes by drug-dependent offenders Because drug abuse is compulsive, it does not stop at the prison door. In a 2009 survey of prisoners conducted by the Scottish Prison Service, 22% of prisoners reported that they had used drugs in prison in the month prior to the survey. 7 Treatment alternatives to incarceration for drug-dependent offenders involve diverting substance-abusing offenders from prison and jail into treatment and rehabilitation under judicial supervision. By increasing direct supervision of offenders, coordinating public resources, and expediting case processing, treatment alternatives to incarceration can help break the cycle of criminal behavior, alcohol and drug use, and imprisonment. The details of these alternative mechanisms vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but most involve suspension of the sentence provided the offender agrees voluntarily8 to participate in a drug treatment program. The judge in the case supervises the offender's progress in treatment, with the assistance of the prosecutor, social workers (case officers), treatment providers and probation officers. The judge has the power to end the treatment program if the offender violates its terms and conditions, in which case, the sentence will be handed down and the offender will be incarcerated. Drug treatment under judicial supervision is well established in countries like Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, under the name of "drug courts" or "drug treatment courts". While the name may vary from place to place, and the conditions of participation may differ, the essential ingredients are as described above. For the purposes of this publication, we shall use the term "drug treatment courts" and "drug courts" interchangeably. At a number of recent seminars organized by the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), Secretariat for Multidimensional Security of the Organization of American States9 , judges, prosecutors and health care personnel from Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe examined the feasibility of establishing treatment alternatives to incarceration for drug-dependent offenders, one form of which are drug courts. Some of the CICAD countries expressed great interest in setting up such programs, although civil law countries pointed to some difficulties they might face in working such alternatives into their penal codes and procedures. Countries where drug courts are already up and running spoke of how they had overcome obstacles and public skepticism, and stressed the need for good evaluations and research on the outcomes of drug treatment court programs in order to demonstrate their effectiveness. Through its program of City Partnerships on the improvement of Drug Treatment, CICAD has helped the courts of Suriname and the State of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, to set up new drug treatment courts, and continues to support the work of drug courts in Chile, Jamaica and other interested countries and cities. Belgium, where a new drug treatment court pilot has been created, has taken a collaborative approach, involving city officials and universities in the process. CICAD's exchange of good practices in recent years allowed countries where drug treatment courts are in place to share different approaches to drug court challenges. Key to the success of drug courts in the U.S. has been the ability to demonstrate to lawmakers and the public at large that drug court participants have lower rates of recidivism and lower rates of relapse into drug use than drug dependent offenders who are incarcerated. We therefore recommend that all drug treatment courts have a robust information system, to assure public acceptance of alternatives to incarceration for drug-dependent offenders as well as to secure future funding. Details: Washington, DC: Organization of American States, 2010. 152p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 20, 2018 at: http://www.cicad.oas.org/fortalecimiento_institucional/dtca/files/Establishing_DTC_%20Strategies_Experiences_Preliminary_Outcomes_volume%201.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Abuse and Crime Shelf Number: 118587 |
Author: United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean Title: Armed Private Security in Latin America and the Caribbean: Oversight and accountability in an evolving context. Regional Study Summary: DCAF and the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) have undertaken a regional study on armed private security in Latin America and the Caribbean, aimed at presenting an updated picture of the private security sector as well as the challenges the sector faces in terms of regulation and small arms control. The private security industry in Latin America and the Caribbean has grown significantly over the last 20 years. The study identified 16,174 private security companies in the region, with more than 2,450,000 legal employees working as security guards. Looking across the region, a number of important challenges can be identified in relation to the armed private security sector. These include a lack of specific and complete legal frameworks; informal private security markets; absence of a whole-of-government approach to regulation and oversight; insufficient institutional capacities for regulation and oversight; unclearly defined training requirements for PSC and their personnel; and the physical security and weapons management of PSCs. This newly gained knowledge is intended to support policy makers, national authorities and industry actors in their efforts to revise and strengthen their approaches to private security oversight and regulation in line with international standards and best practices. Strengthening private security regulation in the region contributes to reinforce both the rule of law and citizen security Details: Partnerships division of DCAF and the Public Security Programme of UNLIREC, 2016. 104p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 3, 2018 at: http://www.ppps.dcaf.ch/sites/default/files/uploads/FINAL%20DCAF%20UNLIREC_Armed%20Private%20Security%20in%20Latin%20America%20and%20the%20Caribbean_Oversight%20and%20Accountability%20in%20an%20Evolving%20Context%202016.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Private Police Shelf Number: 149663 |
Author: Haugaard, Lisa Title: Between a Wall and a Dangerous Place: The Intersection of Human Rights, Public Security, Corruption & Migration in Honduras and El Salvador Summary: In January 2018, the Trump Administration made the decision to terminate in 18 months the special immigration protections, Temporary Protected Status, which allowed some 200,000 Salvadoran men and women to work and live legally in the United States, following natural disasters affecting their country. In May 2018, the administration will determine the fate of some 57,000 Hondurans under the same program. Salvadorans and Hondurans in the United States are also dramatically affected by other new restrictions and uncertainties on immigration policies, including the termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (the DACA program) for the young people known as the Dreamers-some 50,000 of whom are from these two countries. Hondurans and Salvadorans fleeing violence today and seeking refuge in the United States face increased difficulties in accessing protections at the border and applying for asylum. Back in their home countries, gang violence and organized crime grimly affect Hondurans' and Salvadorans' daily lives and force them to go into hiding or leave their homes. Their governments' failures to adequately protect their citizens, and indeed, state security forces pursuing hardline strategies that put people, especially young men, at risk, add to the harsh facts of life in El Salvador and Honduras. Women face additional risks from gangs and from domestic violence, and LGBTI persons face violence motivated by societal prejudice-including from police. To this dangerous mix is added another trauma in Honduras: following a disputed presidential election, state violence against protestors left over two dozen people dead and President Juan Orlando Hernandez's government is moving to close space for citizens to defend their rights. This report is a series of blog posts written from October 2017 through March 2018 about the dangers and challenges faced by Honduran and Salvadoran citizens in their home countries, even as the Trump Administration moves to deport more Honduran- and Salvadoran-born people in the United States back to home countries they may no longer know and restrict protections to those fleeing. The series, based on interviews with activists, government officials, journalists, humanitarian workers, diplomats, and academics, shows how the dangers that propel children, teenagers, women, and men from those countries to seek refuge in the United States, Mexico, and elsewhere have not ended. Details: Washington, DC: Latin America Working Group Education Fund, 2018. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 10, 2018 at: http://lawg.org/storage/documents/Between_a_Wall_and_a_Dangerous_Place_LAWGEF_web.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Latin America Keywords: Corruption Shelf Number: 149747 |
Author: Kinosian, Sarah Title: Security for Sale: Challenges and Good Practices in Regulating Private Military and Security Companies in Latin America Summary: Just before midnight on March 2, 2016, assassins broke into Berta Caceres' home and murdered her in her bedroom. Caceres was an indigenous leader in a peaceful campaign against the Agua Zarca dam on a river considered sacred by the indigenous Lenca community of Honduras. In the months leading up to her death, Caceres, along with the resistance movement she led, endured threats, smear campaigns, physical assaults, sexual assaults and forced eviction. The recently-arrested executive president of the company building the dam, Desarrollos Energeticos SA, (DESA), was a former military intelligence officer. On DESA's board sits a former justice minister and several members of one of the richest and most powerful families in Honduras. An international group of lawyers studying the case established "shareholders, executives, managers, and employees of Desarrollos Energeticos Sociedad Anonima (DESA); private security companies working for DESA; and public officials and State security agencies implemented different strategies to violate the right to prior, free and informed consultation of the Lenca indigenous people. The strategy was to control, neutralize and eliminate any opposition." So far nine people have been arrested, four of whom have ties to the Honduran military. Among many other issues, including high-level corruption, the Caceres assassination is emblematic of many problems associated with the private sector security industry in Latin America. The lines between current and retired military personnel and the private company were blurred. There was an interwoven network of current military, former military, private security, business elites and government officials. The dispute involved an energy project opposed by a local community, a context in which many of the worst Private Military and Security Company (PMSC) abuses occur across the region. The sustained use of surveillance, threats, and force against the Lenca community-culminating with Caceres' assassination- was excessive and politicized, clearly violating the rules of engagement for public and private security forces. Some of the individuals responsible for the murder were only arrested after significant international outcry, but most of the masterminds behind the killing remain free. Details: Washington, DC: The Dialogue, 2018. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 16, 2018 at: https://www.thedialogue.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Security-for-Sale-FINAL-ENGLISH.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Latin America Keywords: Citizen Security Shelf Number: 149813 |
Author: Ramirez, Socorro Title: Drug Policy in the Andes: Seeking Humane and Effective Alternatives Summary: The Andean-United States Dialogue Forum, which is supported by the Carter Center and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), met in 2010 and 2011 with the participation of 35 prominent citizens who are involved in diverse social processes and the shaping of public opinion and dialogue with governments. Participants came from a variety of sectors in six countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, the United States and Venezuela). The working group on drug policy and organized crime was established at the first meeting of the Forum and implemented a plan for national consultations through meetings, events and interviews in the five Andean countries, to analyze drug policy successes, failures and alternatives. Two members of the working group, Socorro Ramirez and Coletta Youngers, were asked to develop a report as a contribution to the current discussion of the issue and efforts to develop effective, humane policies. Fifty years after signing the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and 40 years after the U.S. government declared a "war on drugs," many obstacles remain despite the partial successes of efforts to counter the problem. Organized crime tied to drug trafficking continues to rise, aggravating violence that involves gangs and hired assassins, murders and arms trafficking. These criminal organizations take advantage of all forms of illicit interaction with the state: corruption, impunity and infiltration. They also try to block action by police and the courts by co-opting or assassinating public officials, legislators and prosecutors. A growing symbiosis between the state and organized crime spreads insecurity and weakens democratic institutions. The election of Barack Obama raised expectations that Washington would acknowledge the urgent need for a change in drug policy. It is fair to highlight a shift in language and tone under the Obama administration, which has stopped using the term "war on drugs" and has acknowledged the need to treat drug use as a public health problem. It is also noteworthy that the White House is taking a less interventionist stance in response to alternatives emerging in the region. Specific policy reforms have yet to be defined, however. The regional dynamic has changed with the "left turn" that has occurred in the majority of South American countries, as well as the diversification in these countries' international relations. Countries are seeking their own platform, such as the Andean Community (CAN) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), to discuss policies and respond to priority issues on the international agenda. The limitations of the current drug policy is causing increasing frustration within and between countries and is leading policy makers, experts and activists in the region to seek new strategies to contain the escalation of illicit markets and minimize the harm done to people, communities and states by drug production and use. The work of the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy and of the Global Commission on Drug Policy has begun to break the taboo that has blocked progress in discussions of policy assessment and alternatives. In the present report, the authors describe a series of alternatives being considered and, in some cases, implemented in Latin America. These alternative policies are reflected in the following recommendations. The authors recommend that governments, shapers of public opinion and civil society in the Andean countries: Take the proposals of the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy and the Global Commission on Drug Policy as points of departure when formulating drug policy and launch an educational and media campaign to help remove ideological biases from the debate while promoting a more evidence-based and regional approach to drug policy. Include additional state institutions (not just those related to police or military activities) in this shared task, along with the widest possible range of eminent individuals, communications media, health experts, non-governmental organizations, civil society and community organizations, churches and academics. Support the Global Commission on Drug Policy's call for a deeper debate on new approaches that focus on reducing the harm caused to the most vulnerable sectors of society affected by the production, trafficking and consumption of drugs, which would benefit the Andean countries in their efforts to develop humane and effective policies. Take into consideration efforts to implement new policies based on specific national situations and local cultural or social circumstances. Support the August 10, 2009 declaration by the governments of the UNASUR countries, in which they "recognize that the chewing of coca leaves is an ancestral cultural manifestation of the Bolivian people which must be respected by the international community." Strengthen dialogue and agreements among the Andean countries and within the frameworks of CAN and UNASUR and ensure the participation of civil society in these regional entities; implement UNASUR's South American Council on the World Drug Problem; and hold a regional meeting to discuss the development of a common agenda on drug policy. Implement solid drug use prevention, treatment and harm-reduction policies that respect human rights and offer adequate care to those who need it, treat drug use as a public health problem rather than a crime, and allocate the necessary resources to achieve this goal. Support the recommendation of the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy to evaluate "the convenience of decriminalizing the possession of cannabis for personal use." Decriminalize personal consumption, use alternatives to incarceration for perpetrators of minor, non-violent crimes, and apply humanitarian considerations to confront the devastating impact the increase of women incarcerated for drug trafficking is having on their lives, their families and their communities. Advance towards an agreement among the Andean countries to end the forced eradication of small farmers' crops and redirect resources toward rural development. Adopt an "alternative livelihoods" approach that involves an appropriate sequence of actions: once other sources of income are established, crops for illegal markets can be reduced. This strategy implies decriminalizing relations with small farmers, instead making them partners in the effort to foster integrated rural development. Redirect law-enforcement efforts toward dismantling criminal organizations and networks linked to drug trafficking; improve and target intelligence activities; transform the exercise of politics; strengthen institutions; confront corruption and empower communities-especially those located in border areas. Strengthen mechanisms to protect democratic institutions from the corrosive influence of illicit political financing from drug trafficking by leveling the electoral playing field through measures such as public financing for parties and candidates, financial transparency during campaigns and sanctions against parties that include confirmed "narco-candidates" on their tickets. Details: Stockholm: International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance - International; Atlanta, GA: The Carter Center, 2011. 88p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 24, 2018 at: https://www.tni.org/files/publication-downloads/book-drug-policy-in-the-andes.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Control Policy Shelf Number: 149881 |
Author: Muggah, Robert Title: Citizen security in Latin America: Facts and Figures Summary: Many Latin American countries, states and cities are facing a chronic public security crisis. In spite of more than a decade of modest economic growth, crime and victimization rates are rising, not dropping. Nevertheless, recent information of 2017 show some signs of improvement. Criminal violence is routinely singled out as one of the top concerns of citizens from across Mexico, Central America and South America. And there are warning signs that the region's high rates of criminal violence and victimization will continue rising if nothing is done. Latin American priorities and approaches to public security have shifted over the past two decades, with growing attention devoted to citizen security. In contrast to traditional law and order approaches to crime, citizen security privileges a more comprehensive and people-centered conceptualization of security and safety - including more data-driven policing, smarter approaches to criminal justice, alternatives to incarceration, and investments in primary, secondary and tertiary prevention. The following report sets out the broad parameters of Latin America's crime challenges and explores innovations in promoting public safety and citizen security. It also underlines the heterogeneity of Latin America's security environment, including the strong differences between regions, countries, states and cities. Taken together, the report issues a descriptive assessment of the scope and scale of the challenges, as well as opportunities for CAF to support partners in their efforts to prevent and reduce crime and improve safety for all Latin Americans. Details: Rio de Janeiro: Igarape Institute, 2018. 67p. Source: Internet Resource: Strategic Paper 33: Accessed May 2, 2018 at: https://igarape.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Citizen-Security-in-Latin-America-Facts-and-Figures.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Latin America Keywords: Crime Prevention Shelf Number: 149975 |
Author: Fuentes, Juan Alberto Title: Violent Conflict and Human Development in Latin America: Summary: This paper is concerned with identifying the main costs that violent conflict has had for human development in Colomiba, El Salvador and Guatemala. A first section refers to the difficulties involved in measuring these costs, taking into account different measurement methods, statistical problems and intangible costs. The second part of the paper briefly describes the basic characteristics of conflict in Colombia, El Salvador and Guatemala. The third part then identifies the impact of violent conflict on human development in these countries, with emphasis on economic and social development, while taking into account distributional questions. Details: Guatemala: UNDP, 2005. 17p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 16, 2018 at: http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/hdr2005_fuentes_juan_alberto_10.pdf Year: 2005 Country: Latin America Keywords: Crime and Inequality Shelf Number: 150242 |
Author: Urgent Action Fund of Latin America Title: Impunity for violence against women defenders of territory and nature in Latin America Summary: The Regional Report Impunity for Violence Against Women Defenders of Territory, Common Goods, and Nature in Latin America reflects the collective effort of the Urgent Action Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean - UAF-LAC, together with fourteen organizations committed to the promotion and defense of women's human and environmental rights and the integral protection of women activists and communities that confront the extractivist model in Latin America. As they confront not only powerful economic and political interests, but the systematic and specific violence against them, women environmental activists face particular risks, threats and attacks, such as sexual violence and other gender-related offenses. However, documentation on this issue is insufficient and lacks of a feminist and intersectional approach. For this reason, we have documented the situation of thirteen activists from nine countries, subjected to individual and collective criminal charges, threats, attacks, and other forms of harassment, up to the most extreme form of repression-physical extermination in the form of femicide. These cases show the alarming situation of women defenders, their fight against impunity for the attacks they receive and the judicial operator's lack of recognition of the standards to be used against impunity. Impunity involves much more than an absence of punishment in criminal acts. It implies that there is no due legal process, or that the law has not been consistently applied, that victims do not know the truth about the attacks they suffered and do not have access to reparations. Therefore, it implies that the State does not adopt measures to prevent their repetition. It installs terror and hopelessness in communities and organizations and ensures a reproduction of privilege and injustice in all of its dimensions and a continuity of the status quo. From a feminist perspective, in our region perpetuation of this phenomenon is due to the following conditions a) the collusion between the State and companies[3]; b) the continuum and spirals of gender-based violence; c) structural racism, that implies double discrimination against indigenous and afro-descendant activists; d) the absence of recognition for women defenders' work which diminishes the importance of identifying the context in which these crimes occur and the intellectual authors and d) the deficiency of effective protection mechanisms for women defenders that take on account their specific vulnerability, including violence inside their communities and organizations. Based on the cases, we highlight some alarming facts. For environmental WHRDs justice has two sides: on one hand there is a systematic absence of diligent investigation; usually, the complaints lodged by women defenders are dismissed and not continued; on the other hand, justice operates diligently to criminalize and neutralize them. Furthermore, there is a worrying incompetence of officials to address women activists' complaints about sexual violence that contrasts with the frequency which with this type of violence is exercised by different state agents against women defenders. Finally, we alert about the lack of investigations, and the fact that, when they occur, they are usually conducted based on misogynist and racist stereotypes. With this joint work we want to honor and dignify the legacy of resistances of those women who care for and protect territory and nature in Latin America. We want to amplify their voices and demands and broaden the support and commitment of states, regional and international human rights protection bodies and civil society to ensure women defenders' lives, integrity and sustainable activism. Details: Bogota, Colombia: The Action Fund, 2018. 61p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 14, 2018 at: http://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/b81245_c0178ea8a0ea4db3b6de6629dea7c6db.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Latin America Keywords: Femicide Shelf Number: 150543 |
Author: Arredondo Sanchez Lira, Jaime Title: Mapping violence: homicides trends in Mexico and Brazil 1990-2010 Summary: Latin America has become one of the most violent regions in the world. Public Safety is now among the principal citizen's demands in some of those countries. This paper begins with a consideration of the role of police in answering the demand for public safety by local populations, and its role as a tool for exercising the state's monopoly of legitimate violence within a territory. Two relevant countries in the region, Brazil and Mexico, have undertaken police reform throughout these two decades, emphasizing lately a combination of new social and policing strategies. However, public opinion and the demand for solutions vary accordingly to changes in general crime trends; previous studies have used a methodology to understand such phenomenon. Homicides provide a good indicator of violence, since its measurement is based upon a common international methodology of mortality public health data. This research develops a new comparison approach that takes into account national tendencies, historical averages and the stability across time of homicides rates at the federal state level in Mexico and Brazil. These trends draw a general picture of violence that is helpful for future public policy discussions. The correlation between violence levels and stability of crime hold for the Brazilian case but not for Mexico, where we can observe a shift of violence to federal Border States and cities. The lack of proper crime statistics and a more detailed conceptualization of reform efforts should be address in future studies to fully understand regional tendencies and tailor local solutions. Details: San Diego: University of California, San Diego, 2012. 76p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed June 20, 2018 at: https://cloudfront.escholarship.org/dist/prd/content/qt4bd8c6p9/qt4bd8c6p9.pdf?t=msz23w Year: 2012 Country: Latin America Keywords: Crime Trends Shelf Number: 150596 |
Author: Vilalta, Carlos Title: Informacion para la prevencion del delito y la violencia Summary: This paper analyzes the various criminal information systems in America Latina and the Caribbean. In particular, it focuses on four trends that require rapid attention in matters of public policies of citizen security: the homicidal violence, the growing criminal victimization, the increase in prison population, and the perception of insecurity. The above, through examine the two main sources of information that are the records administrative and surveys, as well as Big Data that are large systems of information integrated by databases from various sources. It also presents evidence of the effectiveness of public policies of prevention of crimes based on statistical information and tools analysis. Concludes with the proposal of a work route for the creation and consolidation of an information system to inform public policies of prevention of violence and crime in the region. Details: Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, 2017. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Discussion Paper: accessed July 16, 2018 at: https://publications.iadb.org/bitstream/handle/11319/8174/Informacion-para-la-prevencion-del-delito-y-la-violencia.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Year: 2017 Country: Latin America Keywords: Big Data Shelf Number: 150878 |
Author: Galiani, Sebastian Title: El transporte publico desde una perspectiva de genero: Percepcion de inseguridad y victimizacion en Asuncion y Lima Summary: Insecurity is the main concern of citizens in the region. Crime and violence distort the allocation of resources of governments, of the firms, and alter the routines of citizens. East study analyzes whether crime or fear alters the optimal decisions of women's mobility, to what extent and what policies could be improved this situation. Safety in public transport is studied an innovative methodology when considering both users and non-users users of public transport in Asuncipn (Paraguay) and Lima (Peru), to Do not bias the results as in other existing studies. It concludes that both the perception and the situation of insecurity of women in the public transport, especially in Lima, are among the most highs of Latin America. This conditions the options of women about public transport, directly affecting their mobility and causing greater loss of time and higher costs. Using methods quantitative we find that, on the one hand, the greater the confidence in institutions and the perception of security in the area of residence, greater is the perception of safety in public transport and, on the other side, the longer the travel time and the younger the passenger, the greater the probability that a woman will be a victim or witness a crime on public transport. There are factors related to the quality of public transport that also affect the perception and Situation of insecurity of women. Some outstanding numbers point out that 78% of women who regularly use transportation public in Lima and 24% of users in Asuncion were victims or witnessed a crime in transportation in the last 12 months and that Sexual offenses represent a present problem in everyday life Women's. Finally, the sub-funding of crimes against women in public transport, since more than 70% do not denounce the fact. Details: Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo , 2016. 70p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 16, 2018 at: https://publications.iadb.org/bitstream/handle/11319/7944/El-transporte-publico-desde-una-perspectiva-de-genero-percepcion-de-inseguridad-y-victimizacion-en-Asuncion-y-Lima.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Public Transportation Shelf Number: 150879 |
Author: Mockus, Antanas Title: Antipodas de la violencia: Desafios de cultura ciudadana para la crisis de (in)seguridad en America Latina Summary: This book examines the relationship between culture and citizen security in eight Latin American cities. It incorporates a broad culture concept into diagnostics, analyzes, surveys and actions. What interests us most about culture is its regulatory power. The worldwide distribution of homicides and suicides shows enormous differences between countries whose explanation can not but give a great weight to cultural differences. The ability of each culture to regulate, interpret and justify certain behavior or not offers vital keys to understand and deal with the problems that come together in the current crisis of citizen security in Latin America. Cultural impunity and moral impunity sometimes come to add their effect to legal impunity. Details: Washington, DC: Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo Corpovisionarios, 2012. 314p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 8, 2018 at: https://publications.iadb.org/handle/11319/383 Year: 2012 Country: Latin America Keywords: Citizen Security Shelf Number: 151061 |
Author: Ruiz, Damaris Title: Breaking the Mould: Changing belief systems and gender norms to eliminate violence against women Summary: In Latin America and the Caribbean, 1831 women died at the hands of men in 2016, and three out of ten women have suffered male violence during their lives. In recent years, countries in the region have made significant progress in tackling the problem by adopting national laws to protect women. This legislative progress is a significant step forward, but gaps in implementation allow a culture of impunity for men who commit violence against women and girls. Without adequate financing and effective means to prevent, report and punish violence against women, the problem will not go away. This report provides insights into the prevalence of belief systems and gender norms among young women and men in the region. It looks in depth at the most entrenched beliefs and behaviours among the younger population and provides ample evidence that we must challenge and change the prevailing belief systems and gender norms if we are to make real progress in guaranteeing the right of all women and girls to a life free from violence. Details: Oxford, UK: Oxfam International, 2018. English summary; Full report in Spanish. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 10, 2018 at: https://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/breaking-the-mould-changing-belief-systems-and-gender-norms-to-eliminate-violen-620524 Year: 2018 Country: Latin America Keywords: Gender-Based Violence Shelf Number: 151103 |
Author: Ambrosius, Christian Title: Exporting murder: US deportations and the spread of violence Summary: Existing literature on cross-national variation in violence has paid little attention to the transnational transmission of crime. One such channel are the forced returns of migrants with a criminal record in their countries of temporary residence. Responding to this research gap, we study the effect of US deportations of convicts on levels of violent crime in deportees' countries of origin for a cross-country panel of up to 123 countries covering the years 2003 to 2015. We find a strong and robust effect of criminal deportations on homicide rates in countries of origin, that is to a large degree driven by deportations towards Latin America and the Caribbean. An additional inflow of ten deportees with a criminal history per 100,000 increases expected homicide rates by more than two. In addition to controlling for country-specific fixed effects, we provide evidence on a causal effect using an instrumental variable approach, that exploits spatial and time variation in migrant populations' exposure to state level immigration policies in the US. Details: Berlin: Freie Universität Berlin, Fachbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaft, 2018. 37p. Source: Internet Resource: Diskussionsbeiträge, No. 2018/13: Accessed August 10, 2018 at: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/180902/1/1027894593.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Latin America Keywords: Criminal Deportations Shelf Number: 151107 |
Author: Olson, Eric L. Title: Evidence-Based Policy Approaches for Preventing Intrafamily Violence and Reducing Criminal Behavior in Latin America Summary: VIOLENCE against women is one of the world's greatest public health problems and one of Latin America's major development challenges. Intrafamily violence is widespread in the region, affecting between 14 and 38 percent of all women throughout their lifetime. A series of studies commissioned by the Wilson Center and supported by the Inter-American Development Bank have begun to shed new light on the complex nature of this violence. Together, they contribute to evidence-based policy recommendations that could prevent the incidence of intra-family violence and reduce the risks of future criminal behavior among children. The first of these studies analyzes partner violence experienced by women in Peru and recommends ways to direct violence prevention resources more effectively. A second examines the characteristics and risk factors common among currently incarcerated women and suggests ways to address these factors preemptively in children to reduce future criminal behavior. Finally, a third study examines the spread of violence from one generation to the next through household violence and reveals differences in how men and women respond to this violence. Details: Washington, DC: Wilson Center, 2017. 7p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 21, 2018 at: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/domestic_violence_policy_brief_eng_final.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Latin America Keywords: Domestic Violence Shelf Number: 151172 |
Author: Organization of American States Title: State of Cybersecurity in the Banking Sector in Latin America and the Caribbean Summary: This study is a contribution of the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS), which aims to provide verified information on the State of Cybersecurity in the Banking Sector in Latin America and the Caribbean. This document is yet another effort by the OAS in its task of strengthening the capacities and level of awareness in relation to the growing threats to digital security in our region. The information in this study was analyzed in two (2) fronts. The first concerns banking entities, examining data of 191 banking entities throughout the region. The other front focuses on the customers of the banking system, where the contributions of 722 users in the region were studied. To conduct this exploration, the OAS, with the support of experts from the banking sector, designed specific instruments for each target group. From the observations based on the instruments used, the main findings are presented. Details: Washington, DC: OAS, 2018. 181p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 3, 2018 at: http://www.oas.org/es/sms/cicte/sectorbancarioeng.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Latin America Keywords: Banking Industry Shelf Number: 151779 |
Author: Safranoff, Ana Title: Incarcerated Women in Latin America: Characteristics and Risk Factors Associated with Criminal Behavior Summary: Based on an analysis of the Survey of Convicted Prisoners relating to eight Latin American countries, this document contributes to a deepening of the knowledge about women who have been imprisoned. First, the results of this in-depth study highlight the gender differences in terms of criminal behavior, as well as the level to which social exclusion is prevalent prior to imprisonment. Women tend to commit less violent and aggressive crimes, have a shorter criminal history, and are more likely to commit a crime while accompanied by a male figure on whom they are dependent. Similarly, women are found to have been far more vulnerable compared to men prior to entering prison. The proportion of women who are unemployed is not only higher than that of men, but childcare responsibilities typically fall upon the woman. Second, this report applies multivariate regression models to identify the risk factors associated with the criminal trajectory of imprisoned women; these indicate where intervention is required in order to prevent female delinquency. The report also emphasizes the fact that a girl’s social interactions (primarily her peer group) can influence her criminal behavior, as do particular sociodemographic characteristics such as having children. Furthermore, the document suggests that such factors must be taken into account in terms of preventive measures as well as the uniqueness of incarcerated women when designing policies that relate to detention and social reintegration. The eight countries included in the study are Argentina, Chile, Brazil, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru, Costa Rica, Honduras. Details: Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2018. 37p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 1, 2018 at: https://publications.iadb.org/handle/11319/8893 Year: 2018 Country: Latin America Keywords: Criminal Behavior Shelf Number: 153132 |
Author: Chinchilla, Laura Title: Citizen Security in Latin America and the Caribbean: Challenges and Innovation in Management and Public Policies over the Last 10 Years Summary: In the last decade, Latin American and Caribbean governments have advanced towards a systemic management of the citizen security and justice issues, integrating strategies of crime and violence prevention and control, the application of justice, and social rehabilitation. The region has moved from reactive and punitive approaches to the design and implementation of comprehensive models focused on human rights and multi-sectoral coordination. Likewise, security institutions have been decentralized to incorporate multiple institutional and social actors at the different government levels. In addition, in terms of public policies, the governments have proposed a range of tools for management by results, coordination, planning, financing, and evaluation of programs. Unfortunately, conceptual and doctrinal advances have not been incorporated with the necessary speed to address the high levels of crime and violence faced by the region. The four main institutional challenges to citizen security are: (i) comprehensiveness, (ii) multi-sectoriality, (iii) rigorousness, and (iv) sustainability and scalability. The document proposes 10 actions to accelerate the transformation of the security governance. Details: Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2018. 42p. Source: Internet Resource: DISCUSSION PAPER No. IDB-DP-640: Accessed November 27, 2018 at: https://www.thedialogue.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/LChinchilla_CitSecEng_Nov2018.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Latin America Keywords: Citizen Security Shelf Number: 153850 |
Author: Maihold, Gunther Title: El Narcotrafico y su Combate: Sus efectos sobre las relaciones internacionales Summary: International relations have been affected by the transnational presence of the esupefacientes and the strategies of their struggle. Drug trafficking has expanded not only territorially, but also in terms of the number of crimes and has become the most attractive illegal business worldwide. The power that drug cartels have acquired has allowed them to become centers of parallel power. There are changes in the productive and commercial circuits of the different types of drugs and in the laundering of benefits. The difficulties of controlling and tackling international drug trafficking networks have given rise to debates about the need to refocus drug policies and the possibilities of their regulation. This volume gathers these deliberations with contributions from Latin American and US analysts. Details: Berlin: Catedra Humboldt/Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, 2014. 301p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed Dec. 6, 2018 at: https://works.bepress.com/gmaihold/3/ (In Spanish) Year: 2014 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 153924 |
Author: Muggah, Robert Title: Citizen Security in Latin America: Facts and Figures Summary: Executive Summary Many Latin American countries, states and cities are facing a chronic public security crisis. In spite of more than a decade of modest economic growth, crime and victimization rates are rising, not dropping. Nevertheless, recent information of 2017 show some signs of improvement. Criminal violence is routinely singled out as one of the top concerns of citizens from across Mexico, Central America and South America. And there are warning signs that the region's high rates of criminal violence and victimization will continue rising if nothing is done. Latin American priorities and approaches to public security have shifted over the past two decades, with growing attention devoted to citizen security. In contrast to traditional law and order approaches to crime, citizen security privileges a more comprehensive and people-centered conceptualization of security and safety – including more data-driven policing, smarter approaches to criminal justice, alternatives to incarceration, and investments in primary, secondary and tertiary prevention. The following report sets out the broad parameters of Latin America´s crime challenges and explores innovations in promoting public safety and citizen security. It also underlines the heterogeneity of Latin America's security environment, including the strong differences between regions, countries, states and cities. Taken together, the report issues a descriptive assessment of the scope and scale of the challenges, as well as opportunities for governments, businesses and civil society to support partners in their efforts to prevent and reduce crime and improve safety for all Latin Americans. The report's executive summary sets out a number of key facts related to citizen security in Latin America. These facts are drawn from a wide range of sources. A detailed list of the sources for each of the graphs is included in the Annex. Among the key findings are: 1. Latin America is home to 8 percent of the world’s population yet experiences 33 percent of the world’s homicides. 2. More than 2.5 million Latin Americans have been killed violently since 2000, most of them due to intentional homicide. 3. Latin American´s regional homicide rate is roughly 21.5 per 100,000, more than three times the global average. 4. Over the past decade Latin America's regional homicide rate has increased 3.7 percent a year, three times the population growth rate of 1.1 percent. 5. Given current trends, Latin America's homicide rate is expected to reach 39.6 per 100,000 by 2030. 6. At least 17 of the top 20 most homicidal countries in the world are located in Central America, the Caribbean and South America. The region is still the world’s most murderous in 2017, but some of the most violent countries saw improvement -including El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. 7. Homicidal violence is highly concentrated in the region with Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela accounting for 1 in 4 homicides globally. 8. More than 141 Latin American cities (52 percent of all cities over with more than 250,000 inhabitants), register homicide rates above the regional average (21.5 per 100,000). 9. As of 2016, 43 of the 50 most homicidal cities in the planet were located in Latin America. 10. Most victims of homicide are male. In Latin America, at least 80 percent of all murder victims are male as compared to a global average of 74 percent. In South America the proportion rises to 88 percent and in the Caribbean 83 percent. 11. Half of Latin American murder victims are between 15-29 years old, representing a tremendous human cost and considerable lost productivity. 12. The proportion of homicides involving firearms is exceedingly high in Latin America – 67 percent of murders in Central America, 53 percent of murders in South America and 51 percent of murders in the Caribbean. The global average of firearm-related homicides is 32 percent. 13. Gang-related violence plays a disproportionate role in homicides across Latin America (26 percent of all known cases) as compared to Europe or Asia. 14. South America has the highest level of reported physical assaults and violent robberies in the world. Victimization surveys confirm high rates of these crimes. 15. Victimization surveys indicate that violence against women and children is pervasive. When asked to describe the most harmful types of violence, 65 percent of Latin American respondents claim it is violence against women and 63 percent say it is violence against children. This is higher than street violence (59 percent) and organized crime and gang-related violence (both 51 percent). 16. Victimization surveys report that 36% of all Latin Americans claim to have been a victim of a crime in 2016. 17. The countries with the highest level of victimization are Venezuela (48 percent), Mexico (46 percent) and Argentina (41 percent). The country with the lowest level of victimization is Ecuador (29 percent). 18. Latin Americans report feeling unsafe in their countries. Among the top ten world´s countries least likely to report feeling safe are Venezuela (just 14 percent say they feel safe), El Salvador (36 percent), Dominican Republic (36 percent), Peru (40 percent) and Mexico (40 percent). 19. And just 19 percent of Venezuelans report being confident in the police in 2015 – the lowest score of any country on the planet. By comparison, 32 percent of Afghans and 32 percent of Syrians report being confident in their police. 20. According to public surveys, when asked whether police "are involved in crime" 44 percent of Latin Americans responded affirmatively. In 7 of 18 countries, the percentage rises to above 50 percent. 21. High perceptions of police corruption are associated with high rates of criminal victimization. When societies believe that most police solicit bribes, there is as much as a 50 percent increase – in the probability of citizens reporting being victimized in a crime. 22. Public surveys suggest low trust in Latin America´s judicial institutions. According to surveys conducted between 2015 and 2016, the reported faith of Latin Americans in judicial institutions declined from 30 percent to 26 percent. 23. The sensation of fear and insecurity affects citizen's confidence in the legitimacy of the political system. Research shows that individuals reporting low perception of crime report on average a 3 percent higher favourability of political institutions then those with a higher perception of crime. 24. High crime rates also affect people's mobility. The percentage of Latin Americans who report limiting their "places of recreation" for fear of being a victim of crime in 2012 ranged from 20-59 percent. The proportion of people who say they have limited the places they shop also ranges from 17 percent to 51 percent. 25. High rates of crime-related victimization are also strongly associated with decisions by households to migrate. Personal experiences with corruption also significantly increase the probability that an individual will consider leaving their country. 26. There is an exceedingly high rate of impunity associated with homicide in Latin America. Roughly 80 percent of European homicides are "solved". In Latin America, the proportion drops to around 50 percent, and even as low as 8 percent in some countries. 27. The regional costs of criminal violence between 2010-2014 averaged about 3.5 percent of GDP, double that of more developed regions around the world. There is quite a spread across countries ranging from 1.92 percent (Mexico) to 6.51 percent (Honduras) of GDP. 28. Criminal violence generates a massive economic cost to society. The total estimated financial burden of criminal violence is between $114.5 and $170.4 billion a year, or $300 per capita. 29. There is a strong protective effect of real GDP growth rates on homicide. A 1 percent increase in the GDP growth rate is correlated with 0.24 percent fewer homicides per 100,000. 30. Youth unemployment is consistently correlated with increases in homicidal violence: a 1 percent increase in youth unemployment is connected to a 0.34 percent increase in homicides per 100,000 people. 31. There is also a strong relationship between teenage pregnancy – especially among teens in situations of concentrated disadvantage – and national homicide rates. An increase in the contemporaneous teen pregnancy rate is associated with a 0.5 percent increase in the per 100,000 homicide rate. 32. Approaches to public security have oscillated between tough on crime and more preventive approaches, with citizen security gaining ground over the past two decades. 33. The first documented citizen security program was in Colombia – Cali, Bogota and Medellin – in 1998. The first initiative to adopt an epidemiological approach to violence prevention in the region was the DESEPAZ intervention in Cali. 34. Spending on citizen security has grown over the past 25 years, amounting to at least $6-7 billion in total from 1998 to the present. Multilateral and bilateral donors account for more than 70 percent of all investment. 35. Among multilateral investors to Latin America, the Inter-American Development Bank has been the principal investor over the past two decades. Other key partners include CAF, the World Bank, UNDP, UNODC and the OAS. 36. Year on year bilateral investment in citizen security peaked in 2009 and declined over the past half-decade due to Latin America's “middle income status”, though the US, Spain, German, the EU and Canada remain active. 37. Although the US has increasingly adopted citizen security priorities in its aid programs, it is still primarily devoted to conventional counter-narcotics and anti-gang programs. 38. The US committed more than $10 billion toward countries such as Mexico, Central America, Colombia and the Andean region from 2000 to the present – including Plan Colombia, the Merida Initiative, CARSI and CSBI. 39. There are at least 1,300 documented citizen security programs and projects undertaken in Latin America since the late 1990s. There is a heavy concentration of citizen security measures in Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua. 40. Roughly 50 percent of all citizen security measures are national programs, while the rest are stateand city-level, or regional activities. 41. More than 50 percent of all registered citizen security measures are focused on addressing common crime, while the others focus on juvenile crime and sexual violence reduction. 42. Very few citizen security initiatives have been assessed – an estimated 7 percent of all documented interventions have been subjected to a scientific impact evaluation. 43. Some of the most effective interventions have been pursued in Colombia: in Cali (1993-94) and Bogota (1995-97) enforced ban on carrying firearms on weekends, paydays and holidays reduced violence in both cities by almost 15 percent. 44. A succession of comprehensive social urban and citizen security measures in Medellin helped drop the homicide rate from 266 per 100,000 in 1991 to 30 per 100,000 by 2015. 45. Also in Colombia, Plan Cuadrantes which supported problem-oriented and community policing resulted in an 18 percent drop in homicide, a 11 percent decline in assault and a 22 percent decline in car thefts where applied. 46. In Brazil, comprehensive citizen security programs generated returns – including in Sao Paulo (homicide rates declined by 70 percent from the late 1990s to 2010), Rio de Janeiro (homicide declined by 65 percent from 2009-2013), and also Belo Horizonte and Recife. 47. In Mexico, Todos Somos Juarez – a comprehensive citizen security program contributed to a 70 percent drop in homicide from a high of 273 per 100,000 in 2010 to 42 per 100,000 by 2014. 48. Generating reliable comparative data on criminal violence and citizen security outcomes is challenging due to a lack of common standards and capacity. 49. Crime is also heavily under-reported in Latin America because citizens have low confidence in the police. On average roughly 30 percent of Latin Americans express trust in their police. 50. A regional effort – the standard regional system for citizen security and violence prevention (SES) tracks 22 indicators and now includes over 20 countries. It was supported by IADB and the Cisalva Institute. Details: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Igarape Institute, 2018. 67p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 11, 2019 at: https://igarape.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Citizen-Security-in-Latin-America-Facts-and-Figures.pdf?utm_campaign=2018_newsletter_10&utm_medium=email&utm_source=RD+Station Year: 2018 Country: Latin America Keywords: Caribbean Shelf Number: 154135 |
Author: Castelli, Denisse Araya Title: Sistematizacion Proyecto: Aportando a la Autonomia de Mujeres Victimas de Trata y Mujeres Migrantes Victimas de Explotacion en la Construccion de Neuvos Proyectos de Vida (Systematization Project: Contributing to the Autonomy of Women Victims of Trafficki Summary: The Project "Contributing to the autonomy of women victims of trafficking and migrant women victims of exploitation in the construction of new life projects" (January-December 2016), whose systematization is exposed in this document, arises from the urgent need to support women who have been raped by the crime of trafficking in persons and migrant women victims of exploitation who leave the Casa Josefina Bahati, refuge of the National Service for Women and Gender Equity executed by the NGO Raices. This document systematizes those strategies that contributed to the autonomy and empowerment of women beneficiaries to be able to disseminate them and present them to the competent authorities so that it can constitute a contribution to the development of a comprehensive protection policy for victims of trafficking in persons and, eventually, migrant women who have experienced exploitation, in any of its manifestations. The project was proposed to facilitate and finance instances of professional training for the labor insertion of the beneficiary women, as well as to provide accompaniment and financial support for the search and / or lease of housing solutions. In order to strengthen their autonomy, independence and abilities to face a new path with greater security and tranquility, considering that women who have suffered extreme situations of violence and abuse, decisional autonomy in the construction of new life projects represents an achievement highly relevant to their empowerment. In the individual and group care provided to women in the Shelter, an important aspect of working is autonomy and economic self-sufficiency, dimensions necessary to break permanently with the reality of slavery experienced previously, avoiding cases of recidivism and delivering new opportunities, labor and social, that empower the feelings of appreciation and confidence. Details: Latin America, 2016. 51p. Source: Internet Resource (in Spanish): Accessed January 14, 2019 at: https://riselearningnetwork.org/resource/sistematizacion-proyecto-aportando-a-la-autonomia-de-mujeres-victimas-de-trata-y-mujeres-migrantes-victimas-de-explotacion-en-la-construccion-de-nuevos-proyectos-de-vida/ Year: 2016 Country: Latin America Keywords: Empowerment Shelf Number: 154151 |
Author: Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS) Title: The internal war: How the fight against drugs is militarising Latin America Summary: Why do some political actors sustain that the armed forces should intervene in affairs other than their primary mission of defending a country from military attack? Are there security threats that can be equated with outside threats and that justify the use of military might inside borders? In order to respond to these questions, we must examine how the notion of "new threats" was constructed, who is promoting it as doctrine, and what these supposed dangers are. In the 1980s and 1990s, a process of democratization put an end to the military governments that had proliferated in Latin America during the twentieth century. The "national security doctrine," pushed by the United States and adopted throughout the Americas, was also abandoned once the ghost of Communism could no longer be used to conjure internal enemies. At the same time, democracy weakened the existing tensions between the countries of the region. War with a neighboring country, which had been the main hypothesis of military conflict for most Latin American countries, began to disappear from the realm of possibility. With nuances depending on the situation and history of each country, the armed forces generally began to lose relevance as political actors in the wake of democracy. In the same period, the issues of crime and citizen security became central themes on the political agenda throughout the region. This led many countries to favor military involvement in "combating crime." To varying extents in each country, the persistence of economic disparities and the expansion of illegal markets such as arms and drug trafficking -underpinned by increased consumption in the United States - contributed to transforming Latin America into one of the most violent regions in the world. Details: Buenos Aires, Argentina: CELS, 2019. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 5, 2019 at: https://idpc.net/publications/2019/01/the-internal-war-how-the-fight-against-drugs-is-militarising-latin-america?utm_source=IDPC+Monthly+Alert+%28English%29&utm_campaign=35eea0b244-IDPC+February+Alert+2019&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_801bc38237-35eea0b244-151900983 Year: 2019 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 154489 |
Author: InSight Crime Title: Criminal Game Changers 2018 Summary: Welcome to InSight Crime's Criminal GameChangers 2018, where we highlight the most important trends in organized crime in the Americas over the course of the year. From a rise in illicit drug availability and resurgence of monolithic criminal groups to the weakening of anti-corruption efforts and a swell in militarized responses to crime, 2018 was a year in which political issues were still often framed as left or right, but the only ideology that mattered was organized crime. Some of the worst news came from Colombia, where coca and cocaine production reached record highs amidst another year of bad news regarding the historic peace agreement with the region's oldest political insurgency, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - FARC). The demobilization of ex-FARC members has been plagued by government ineptitude, corruption, human rights violations, and accusations of top guerrilla leaders' involvement in the drug trade. And it may have contributed directly and indirectly to the surge in coca and cocaine production. It was during this tumult that Colombia elected right wing politician Ivan Duque in May. Duque is the protege of former president and current Senator Alvaro Uribe. Their alliance could impact not just what's left of the peace agreement but the entire structure of the underworld where, during 2018, ex-FARC dissidents reestablished criminal fiefdoms or allied themselves with other criminal factions; and the last remaining rebel group, the National Liberation Army (Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional - ELN), filled power vacuums in Colombia and neighboring Venezuela, making it one of our three criminal winners this year. Meanwhile, a new generation of traffickers emerged, one that prefers anonymity to the large, highly visible armies of yesteryear. Also of note in 2018 was a surge in synthetic drugs, most notably fentanyl. The synthetic opioid powered a scourge that led to more overdose deaths in the United States than any other drug. Fentanyl is no longer consumed as a replacement for heroin. It is now hidden in counterfeit prescription pills and mixed into cocaine and other legacy drugs. It is produced in Communist-ruled China and while much of it moves through the US postal system, some of it travels through Mexico on its way to the United States. During 2018, the criminal groups in Mexico seemed to be shifting their operations increasingly around it, especially given its increasing popularity, availability, and profitability. The result is some new possibly game changing alliances, most notably between Mexican and Dominican criminal organizations. Among these Mexican criminal groups is the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion - CJNG), another of our three criminal winners for 2018. The CJNG has avoided efforts to weaken it with a mix of sophisticated public relations, military tactics and the luck of circumstance - the government has simply been distracted. That is not the say it is invulnerable. The group took some big hits in its epicenter in 2018, and the US authorities put it on its radar, unleashing a series of sealed indictments against the group. Mexico's cartels battled each other even as they took advantage of booming criminal economies. The result was manifest in the record high in homicides this year. The deterioration in security opened the door to the July election of leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. AMLO, as he is affectionately known, did not necessary run on security issues, but he may have won on them, and in the process, inherited a poisoned security chalice from his predecessor. While Pena Nieto can claim to have arrested or killed 110 of 122 criminal heads, AMLO faces closer to a thousand would-be leaders and hundreds of criminal groups.... Details: s.l.: Insight Crime, 2019. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 25, 2019 at: https://www.insightcrime.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/CRIMINAL-GAMECHANGERS-2018-InSight-Crime.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Latin America Keywords: Cocaine Shelf Number: 155157 |
Author: Farah, Douglas Title: A Strategic Overview of Latin America: Identifying New Convergence Centers, Forgotten Territories, and Vital Hubs for Transnational Organized Crime Summary: This paper outlines a number of critical strategic challenges in Latin America for U.S. policymakers, which were directly identified in the December 2017 National Security Strategy. However, despite this recognition, these issues are seldom featured in policy discussions about the region. Through the framework of the convergence paradigm, which contends that multiple criminal/ terrorist groups work collaboratively when such cooperation is mutually convenient, we consider a number of territories, key commodities, and new money-laundering methodologies that have allowed transnational organized crime (TOC) networks to flourish in seemingly marginal regions of the hemisphere. Long considered to be a critical challenge in Latin America, regional TOC groups, often under the direct protection of state actors, are able to adapt and thrive when policymakers do not understand the evolution of their operations, recognize the roles criminalized states often play, or develop innovative tools to combat TOC adaptations. Through examination of these evolving challenges, this analysis seeks to raise awareness among policymakers and to demonstrate how relatively few strategically targeted, well-placed resources can curb the financial and territorial reach of TOC groups. Furthermore, the analysis shows that continuing neglect of these challenges can enable the growth of criminalized, anti-U.S. regional powers, and hamper the ability of key U.S. allies to promote the rule of law and democratic growth throughout the region. This analysis begins with a study of convergence in the illicit gold trade, drawing on fieldwork in Puerto Maldonado, Peru. It then considers three countries-Paraguay, Bolivia, and Nicaragua-that receive little attention from policymakers but are key players in the emerging drug trafficking, gold trade, money-laundering, and extra-regional illicit networks in Latin America. The discussion of both Bolivia and Paraguay features a brief study of the activities of the Primeiro Comando da Capital (First Command of the Capital), based in Brazil but rapidly expanding its operations across South and Central America. Despite being one of the largest and fastest-growing criminal gangs in the hemisphere, it is seldom viewed as an important consideration for regional trends. Finally, an overview of the Ramiro Network, a massive regional state-sponsored money-laundering structure based on fictitious oil sales, highlights a key convergence point for TOC activity in El Salvador, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Colombia- including the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or, FARC), FARC "dissidents," and Russia. Many trend lines in Latin America are worrisome, and the actors discussed here are directly tied to the more visible crisis in Venezuela and the growing threat in Colombia. Ties between the FARC secretariat in Colombia - recently demobilized after a historic December 2016 peace agreement-and FARC dissident structures that remain engaged in cocaine trafficking and other illicit activities are now clearly documented and demand serious responses in order to ensure the continued security of Colombia, a close U.S. regional ally. Leaving the actors in these new regions of convergence to grow unchecked presents a serious security risk to the United States and the region. Details: Washington, DC: National Defense University Press, 2019. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Strategic Perspectives 28: Accessed May 16, 2019 at: https://ndupress.ndu.edu/Portals/68/Documents/stratperspective/inss/Strategic-Perspectives-28.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Latin America Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 155863 |
Author: Giacomello, Corina Title: Childhood that matters: The Impact of drug policy on children and adolescents with imprisoned mothers and fathers in Latin America and the Caribbean Summary: This study places itself at a rarely-examined crossroads: drug policy, incarceration and the rights of children and youth. Its focus is the specific toll that having a parent in prison for a minor, nonviolent drug offense has on children and youth. The research is both qualitative and quantitative and comes from across Latin America and the Caribbean. The research for this study was conducted in eight countries: Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Uruguay and Panama. Each study involved relevant experts on drug policy, the penal system and policies directed towards children. Some of the questions that guide this study are: How does drug policy affect children and youth when their guardians are in prison? What do children think of drug crimes and the authorities' response to them? What are these children's feelings, worries and experiences? In what way are international policies and agreements taken into account when designing, applying and monitoring public policies specifically oriented toward children and youth? In what way should public policies regarding children, drugs and incarceration inform and transform each other in order to ensure the most important factor, the child's ultimate wellbeing? Through the voices of 70 girls and boys with incarcerated parents, as well as those of their caretakers, we offer answers to these questions. We also offer tools that may be useful for organizations working with children, attempting to influence drug policy in the region and creating or implementing public policies related to the rights of children, incarceration and drug legislation. Details: Buenos Aires, Argentina: Church World Services, 2019. 88p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 16, 2019 at: http://www.cwslac.org/nnapes-pdd/docs/Regional-Study-Childhood-that-matters-web.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Latin America Keywords: Children of Inmates Shelf Number: 155876 |
Author: Congressional Research Service Title: Combating Corruption in Latin America: Congressional Considerations Summary: Corruption of public officials in Latin America continues to be a prominent political concern. In the past few years, 11 presidents and former presidents in Latin America have been forced from office, jailed, or are under investigation for corruption. As in previous years, Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index covering 2018 found that the majority of respondents in several Latin American nations believed that corruption was increasing. Several analysts have suggested that heightened awareness of corruption in Latin America may be due to several possible factors: the growing use of social media to reveal violations and mobilize citizens, greater media and investor scrutiny, or, in some cases, judicial and legislative investigations. Moreover, as expectations for good government tend to rise with greater affluence, the expanding middle class in Latin America has sought more integrity from its politicians. U.S. congressional interest in addressing corruption comes at a time of this heightened rejection of corruption in public office across several Latin American and Caribbean countries. Whether or not the perception that corruption is increasing is accurate, it is nevertheless fueling civil society efforts to combat corrupt behavior and demand greater accountability. Voter discontent and outright indignation has focused on bribery and the economic consequences of official corruption, diminished public services, and the link of public corruption to organized crime and criminal impunity. In some countries, rejection of tainted political parties and leaders from across the spectrum has challenged public confidence in governmental legitimacy. In some cases, condemnation of corruption has helped to usher in populist presidents. For example, a populist of the left won Mexico's election and of the right Brazil's in 2018, as winning candidates appealed to end corruption and overcome political paralysis. The 2017 U.S. National Security Strategy characterizes corruption as a threat to the United States because criminals and terrorists may thrive under governments with rampant corruption. Studies indicate that corruption lowers productivity and mars competitiveness in developing economies. When it is systemic, it can spur migration and reduce GDP measurably. The U.S. government has used several policy tools to combat corruption. Among them are sanctions (asset blocking and visa restrictions) against leaders and other public officials to punish and deter corrupt practices, and programming and incentives to adopt anti-corruption best practices. The United States has also provided foreign assistance to some countries to promote clean or "good" government goals. U.S. efforts include assistance to strengthen the rule of law and judicial independence, law enforcement training, programs to institutionalize open and transparent public sector procurement and other clean government practices, and efforts to tap private-sector knowledge to combat corruption. This report examines U.S. strategies to help allies achieve anti-corruption goals, which were once again affirmed at the Summit of the Americas held in Peru in April 2018, with the theme of "Democratic Governance against Corruption." The case studies in the report explore: - Brazil's collaboration with the U.S. Department of Justice and other international partners to expand investigations and use tools such as plea bargaining to secure convictions; - Mexico's efforts to strengthen protections for journalists and to protect investigative journalism generally, and mixed efforts to implement comprehensive reforms approved by Mexico's legislature; and - the experiences of Honduras and Guatemala with multilateral anti-corruption bodies to bolster weak domestic institutions, although leaders investigated by these bodies have tried to shutter them. Some analysts maintain that U.S. funding for "anti-corruption" programming has been too limited, noting that by some definitions, worldwide spending in recent years has not exceeded $115 million annually. Recent congressional support for anti-corruption efforts includes: training of police and justice personnel, backing for the Trump Administration's use of targeted sanctions, and other efforts to condition assistance. Policy debates have also highlighted the importance of combating corruption related to trade and investment. The 116th Congress may consider the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which would revise the NAFTA trade agreement, and contains a new chapter on anti-corruption measures. Details: Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2019. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 28, 2019 at: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R45733.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Latin America Keywords: Anti-Corruption Shelf Number: 156054 |
Author: Burgoyne, Michael L. Title: Building Better Gendarmeries in Mexico and the Northern Triangle Summary: Facing record homicide rates and a public outcry to reduce violence and restore peace, Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador proposed the formation of a "National Guard" as a possible solution. While controversial, it has garnered the support of large majorities in the Mexican Congress, and in two-thirds of the states, ensuring that the National Guard will be constitutionally recognized. In a new report published by the Wilson Center's Mexico Institute, author Michael L. Burgoyne, a U.S. Army Foreign Area Officer, looks at the limitations of current policing models in Mexico and Central America to confront "militarized criminal violence." He further examines the historical experiences of Stability Police Forces in France, Spain, and Italy and draws some important lessons that could bolster efforts in Mexico and Central America to form their own versions of gendarmeries to better address the serious threats posed by organized crime. Finally, he highlights the limitations of current United States security cooperation programs for addressing these strategic challenges. Details: Washington, DC: Wilson Center, 2019. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 3, 2019 at: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/building-better-gendarmeries-mexico-and-the-northern-triangle Year: 2019 Country: Latin America Keywords: Gendarmerie Shelf Number: 156145 |
Author: Castro, Teresa Garcia Title: Pretrial Detention in Latin America: The Disproportionate Impact on Women Deprived of Liberty for Drug Offenses Summary: According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the nonexceptional use of pretrial detention is one of the most serious and widespread criminal justice problems affecting Latin American countries. One out of three people awaiting trial in the Americas, which include Canada and the United Sates, are held behind bars and over the last two decades, the number of pretrial detainees in the region has grown by around 60%. One of the leading causes of this increase is the excessive use of pretrial detention for drug-related offenses in Latin America. The disproportionate and prolonged use of pretrial detention undermines the principles of the presumption of innocence, legality, necessity and proportionality. It also greatly contributes to prison overcrowding, and frequently exposes detainees to conditions of ill treatment and/or violence. In some countries, women are more likely to be held as pretrial detainees than men, disproportionately impacting these women and their families. In recent years, some Latin American governments have introduced reforms to reduce the use of pretrial detention. While these reforms are welcome, they have only made a small dent in the problem, and much more can - and should - be done to ensure that pretrial detention is the exception, not the rule. This report provides the most recent data on the use of pretrial detention, looks specifically at its impact on women, and concludes with a series of recommendations to significantly reduce the number of women in pretrial detention in Latin America. Details: Washington, DC: WOLA, Advocacy for Human Rights in the Americas, 2019. 19p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 4, 2019 at: https://www.wola.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Pretrial-detention-in-Latin-America_June-2019.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Latin America Keywords: Caribbean Shelf Number: 156174 |
Author: Organization of American States Title: Explotacion Sexual Comercial de Ninos, Ninas y Adolescentes e Internet (Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, Girls and Adolescents and the Internet) Summary: The Inter-American Institute of Children and Adolescents (IIN) (link), in follow-up to the Resolution of the OAS General Assembly AG / RES, 1667 (XXIX-0/99), of June 7, 1999, annually a Report to the Secretary General of the OAS on the measures undertaken by the member states to combat the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents (CSEC) in the Americas. On this occasion, the X Report to the Secretary General has been prepared with a thematic emphasis on the relationship between the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents and the Internet. The growing importance that new communication technologies have taken in the daily life of the population as a whole and the different ownership that the new generations have made of them have made the Internet a new social space to which children and adolescents access and in which interact intensively and with little supervision of adults. This opens a new scenario for the realization of rights such as access to information, expression, meeting, access to culture, but in this new space, new versions of old threats and forms of infringement of rights also arise. these rights. Examples of these are expressions of violence, discriminatory content and new forms of production and commercialization of images of sexual content, configuring a new form of CSEC. Details: Montevideo, Uruguay: Organizacion de los Estados Americanos, 2011. 31p. Source: Internet Resource (in Spanish): Accessed June 10, 2019 at: https://www.bienestaryproteccioninfantil.es/fuentes1.asp?sec=14&subs=52&cod=796&page= Year: 2011 Country: Latin America Keywords: Child Pornography Shelf Number: 156334 |
Author: Vivalta, Carlos J. Title: Prison Populism in Latin America: Reviewing the Dynamics of Prison Population Growth Summary: Not much information can be found on the size and trends of the prison population in Latin America. Over the past few years, our knowledge base has started to increase. Now we know, with certainty, that prison populations have been growing much faster than the general population, and that their living conditions are extremely harsh. Thus it should not surprise us when we often hear of deadly prison riots happening in countries like Brazil, Venezuela, and Mexico, as consequence of overcrowding and poor living conditions. Although living conditions in prisons in the region are still appalling, rapid growth seems to have come to an end. Trend data suggests that the Latin American prison population rate has stabilized. The objective of this study is to offer a data-driven review of the growth, trends, and the principle reasons behind the rapid expansion of the prison population in the region during the past two decades. A key factor appears to be the rise of prison populism. We do not provide an argument for the recent decrease in the growth rate, it is too early to determine whether the recent slow-down in prison population growth is due to a regime shift in the time series, or the effect of random variation. Still, ceteris paribus, we provide a projection of the prison population rate for the region. This Strategic Note fills a gap in the literature. Our particular contribution consists of the compilation on quantitative data of the region´s prison population, with the purpose of providing a broad but novel overview of the rapid growth and challenges to a wide audience of researchers and practitioners worldwide. Details: Rio de Janeiro: Igarape Institute, 2019. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Strategic Note 32: https://igarape.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2019-03-29-NE-32_Prision-Growth-EN.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Latin America Keywords: Prison Conditions Shelf Number: 156840 |
Author: Jubb, Nadine Title: Women and Policing in America: A Revised Background Paper Summary: Engendering the police in Latin America is a challenging but necessary goal to ensure women's rights - especially the right to live without violence - and equitable democratization. Specialized police stations for women (hereafter women's police stations or WPS) have been at the forefront of the fight against violence against women since the first WPS was founded in Brazil in 1985. Gender mainstreaming in the police is a much newer initiative but it also has important consequences for women's exercise of their rights and, as such, their experience of and contribution to democracy. These initiatives are the result of growing attention to the need for state action to address violence against women and women's rights in international and national contexts. Over the past twenty years, upholding women's right to live without violence has gained acceptance as a responsibility of the state through various international agreements. The popularity of and need for the WPS is evident in the demand for them expressed by both the population in general and the women’s movement, as well as the dramatic increases in reportings of crimes after WPS are opened. Though the initial demand often comes from women's movements, soon afterwards that demand gets taken up as an interest by the state, in particular by the police. Another indicator is the ongoing growth in number of facilities in countries where they already exist, and more countries setting up WPS. There are now about thirteen Latin American countries that offer specialized facilities to address violence against women, and many more who have special procedures or training programs for police. By contrast, gender mainstreaming has emerged more as a result of external pressure from donors and technical assistance than a felt need on the force or mobilizing by the local women's movement. The initial findings point out that WPS and gender mainstreaming are undoubtedly vital initiatives for improving women's citizenship and contributing to good governance. There is a unanimous opinion in the literature that the WPS are innovative and should be strengthened. They protect women against threats to their security and have important consequences for women's human and citizenship rights by providing access to legal, medical, and psychological services that these users, most of them poor, may not otherwise have access to. As such they contribute a gendered focus to citizen security. Specialized police facilities also make a significant contribution to good governance because of the ongoing collaboration between the women's movement and NGOs, the police, and in some cases state women's machineries in the areas of service provision and coordination and administration. Gender mainstreaming in the police can improve the rights of women police on the force and also, through increased transparency and transformed policies and programs, to the general population as well. Examples in the region range from hiring and promotion policies, a diagnostic study that visibilizes sexual harassment against policewomen, and introducing sex-disaggregated statistics. Gender mainstreaming policies and mechanisms can contribute substantially to making a democratic police force more likely to engage in democratic policing. If women's rights are respected on the force -especially the right to live without violence - it is more likely that police will enforce those rights in the community. Details: Toronto, Canada: York University, Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean, 2003. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 2, 2019 at: http://www.nevusp.org/downloads/down085.pdf Year: 2003 Country: Latin America Keywords: Governance Shelf Number: 157094 |