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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
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Results for citizen security
9 results foundAuthor: 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 URL: https://publications.iadb.org/bitstream/handle/11319/7240/ICS_TN_Closing_Knowledge_Gaps.pdf?sequence=1 Shelf Number: 138384 Keywords: Citizen SecurityCrime PreventionEvidence-Based PracticesPublic Security |
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 URL: https://publications.iadb.org/handle/11319/7757 Shelf Number: 146157 Keywords: Citizen SecurityCrime PreventionHomicidesPublic SafetyViolenceViolent Crime |
Author: Price, Megan Title: Setting the Aperture Wider: A Synthesis of Research and Policy Advice on Security Pluralism in Tunis, Nairobi and Beirut Summary: In contexts of security pluralism, an array of actors assert claims on the use of force, operating simultaneously and with varying relationships to the state. In such contexts, security providers may acquire legitimacy by proving more effective and efficient, proximate and relevant to local populations, and are often cheaper than state alternatives. Yet, plural security actors are frequently associated with human rights violations, perverse interface with the state, difficulty in providing security equitably in contexts of diversity, and an almost ineluctable tendency toward net production of insecurity over time. Donors have few policy or practical tools with which to engage meaningfully in contexts of plural security provision. Since directly engaging plural security providers would mean upsetting relationships with state partners, conferring legitimacy on groups with unpalatable goals or tactics, or tacitly endorsing violence as a path to political privilege, donors prefer to focus on official security agencies and state oversight. Plural Security Insights and its partners have developed the research project outlined here to address that dearth of relevant policy and programming advice. Comparative research was conducted in three urban contexts: Beirut, Nairobi, and Tunis. Key findings include: • Where security is highly fragmented, powerful actors are able to organise security arrangements that benefit them, and public oversight is difficult to assert. Security as a ‘public good’ cannot be assumed as an operational starting point. • Security assistance interventions in contexts of security pluralism should promote public oversight, standards of practice and divisions of labour for all providers. Supporting one type of provider inevitably privileges some groups and interests over others. • Intermediate steps between relational and rules-based arrangements for security provision may be preferable to conventional approaches that focus exclusively on building the capacity of state institutions. • Efforts to foster stronger, safer communities should pay equal attention to the social determinants of security that maintain order and foster resilience, by encouraging social cohesion, addressing exclusion and ensuring adequate public service provision. The transition from a relational to a rules-based system will require a new repertoire of security assistance strategies and methods. Actions might include: • Tackle the most pernicious aspects of security pluralism, especially exclusion and the lack of accountability, through means such as increasing civic space and strengthening mechanisms for asserting public oversight of all security providers. • Identify and invest in intermediate steps to move from relational to rules-based security systems, including SSR interventions that address the panorama of security providers, and the development of popular oversight mechanisms and functional divisions of labour amongst security providers. • Address the social determinants of security through efforts to strengthen inclusive notions of the public good, and design policies to expand access to public services that reduce citizens’ reliance on fickle, exploitive or divisive private actors. Details: The Hague: Plural Security Insights, Clingendael Conflict Research Unit, 2016. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 3, 2017 at: http://pluralsecurityinsights.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/160707_PSI_Policy-brief_Synthesis-Report.pdf Year: 2016 Country: International URL: http://pluralsecurityinsights.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/160707_PSI_Policy-brief_Synthesis-Report.pdf Shelf Number: 144433 Keywords: Citizen SecurityCommunity SafetyCrime PreventionSecurity |
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 URL: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/citizen_security_policy_brief_final.pdf Shelf Number: 144739 Keywords: Citizen SecurityHomicideNeighborhoods and CrimeUrban Areas and CrimeUrban ViolenceViolent Crime |
Author: Associacion Civil Paz Activa Title: 2 - Informe del Observatorio de delito organizado en Venezuela (The increase in Organized Crime is a threat to democracy Summary: Venezuelans perceive that the state security forces, instead of fighting, favor the existence and operation of Organized Crime. Sixty-six percent of the interviewees considered that it was the police and the military who sold arms to Organized Crime. The three most common activities at the national level are: drug trafficking, product smuggling and theft and sale of vehicles and spare parts. On average, about one in 3 respondents who said that drug trafficking is "very present" in the country, one interviewee said that they are "not present". The Organized Crime Observatory and the Social Sciences Laboratory (LACSO) are pleased to present the II report of the Organized Crime Observatory, based on the "Results of the 2nd Organized Crime Survey in Venezuela", a study carried out in 7 regions Of the national territory in the period of July and August of this year 2015. Beyond the mere disclosure of the results of our research, we consider it extremely important to inform the citizen in some way about the nature of these crimes and how not to be part of them or victims of these in particular. As reflected in the pages of this publication, more than half of Venezuelans believe that the increase in Organized Crime is a threat to democracy, and even more so in this time where we perceive their presence in much of our daily lives. Here are some relevant results of this study: The three most common activities at the national level are: drug trafficking, product smuggling, theft and sale of vehicles and spare parts. Gangs, mafias and bands, along with pranes and armed groups, are the groups that are considered to be the cause of Organized Crime. For every 3 people who reported that the activity of gangs, mafias and gangs are responsible for Organized Crime, 1 person said otherwise. Sixty-six percent of the interviewees considered that it was the police and the military who sold arms to Organized Crime. More than half of the interviewees expressed fear of the complaint and cooperated with the police and the judicial system. Half of those surveyed nationwide in the past 12 months have been the victims of robbery or theft. Sixty-four percent of respondents felt that it was easy or very easy to get drugs in their community. This perception has increased little between 2013 and 2015 by 3 percentage points. The interviewees consider that personal insecurity has worsened in the country in the last twelve months. This is perceived by 76% of the respondents. The actors identified as responsible for Organized Crime were gangs, mafias and gangs, prisons in the prisons and groups. There was little attribution to the paramilitaries and guerrillas. An important majority of the population considered that the military had been corrupted by drug trafficking. The population considers that organized crime should be combated with the application of the law and not negotiate with criminals or zones of peace. The vast majority of the population, throughout the country and all social or political sectors, believes that the increase in Organized Crime is a threat to democracy. English Summary Details: Caracas: Asociacion Civil Paz Activa, Observatorio de delito organizado. 2015. 78p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 22, 2017 at: http://observatoriodot.org.ve/cms/images/documentos/ODO_2do_informe_web_v11_carta.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Venezuela URL: http://observatoriodot.org.ve/cms/images/documentos/ODO_2do_informe_web_v11_carta.pdf Shelf Number: 145156 Keywords: Automobile TheftCitizen SecurityDrug TraffickingGangsOrganized CrimeSmuggling |
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 URL: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/citizen-insecurity-casas-zamora.pdf Shelf Number: 147036 Keywords: Citizen SecurityLaw EnforcementPoliceViolent Crime |
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 URL: https://www.thedialogue.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Security-for-Sale-FINAL-ENGLISH.pdf Shelf Number: 149813 Keywords: Citizen SecurityMilitary PersonnelPrivate SecurityPrivatizationSecurity Companies |
Author: Ellis, Geoffrey A. Title: Evaluating common hypotheses for violence in Central America Summary: This thesis endeavors to bring analytical clarity to the assumptions that inform proposed policy solutions to the alarming rise in violence in Central America. The thesis evaluates three of the most common hypotheses for citizen insecurity in the region: the impact of structural economic problems like poverty and inequality; the efficacy of state criminological approaches; and the effectiveness of internal security institutions. To evaluate each hypothesis, the thesis uses a comparative case analysis of Nicaragua and El Salvador. In spite of dramatic divergence in violence outcomes, the two countries share many variables including geographical proximity, economic development challenges, a history of civil conflict, and democratic transition in the 1990s. Using homicide rates as the most reliable indicator of violence, the findings reveal that structural economic problems like poverty and inequality have only an imperfect correlation with citizen security. On the contrary, variables that correlate more closely with peaceful security outcomes include the effectiveness of security institutions-characterized by sophisticated plans, sound structures, and adequate resources-and rigorous criminological approaches as characterized by community involvement, efficient intelligence-gathering mechanisms, and recidivism reduction programs. The thesis's implications pertain not only to Central America but also to troubled regions throughout the world. Details: Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School, 2016. 124p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed May 9, 2018 at: https://calhoun.nps.edu/handle/10945/51687 Year: 2016 Country: Central America URL: https://calhoun.nps.edu/handle/10945/51687 Shelf Number: 150130 Keywords: Citizen SecurityHomicidesViolenceViolent Crime |
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 URL: https://publications.iadb.org/handle/11319/383 Shelf Number: 151061 Keywords: Citizen SecurityCrime PreventionFamily ViolenceHomicideViolenceViolent Crime |