Criminality, Public Security, and the Challenge to Democracy in Latin America

Erscheinungsjahr 2009
ISBN: 978-0-268-02213-6
Verlag: Longleaf - Univ of Notre Dame Du Lac

Buch, Englisch, 360 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 226 mm, Gewicht: 567 g

As new democratic regimes take root in Latin America, two of the most striking developments have been a dramatic rise in crime rates and increased perception of insecurity among its citizens. The contributors to this book offer a collective assessment of some of the causes for the alarming rise in criminal activity in the region. They also explore the institutional obstacles that states confront in the effort to curb criminality and build a fairer and more efficient criminal justice system; the connections between those obstacles and larger socio political patterns; and the challenges that those patterns present for the consolidation of democracy in the region. The chapters offer both close of restricted regions in Latin America and broader examinations of the region as a whole. The contributors to this volume are prominent scholars and specialists on the issue of citizen security. They draw on the latest methodologies and theoretical approaches to examine the question of how crime and crime fighting impact the consolidation of democracy and the rule of law in the region. These studies represent a major first step towards evaluating broadly a relative dearth of hard data about the Latin American security situation, as well as identifying future research paths. This book will be important for scholars, policy makers, and students, especially in the fields of Latin American and comparative law, political science, sociology, and criminology.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bergman, Marcelo

Über Autor(innen)

MARCELO BERGMAN is associate professor of law at Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economicas in Mexico City. He is the author of the forthcoming book Cheaters Suckers and Legalists: On Tax Evasion and the Rule of Law in Latin America. LAURENCE WHITEHEAD is an Official Fellow in Politics at Nuffield College, Oxford University, and Senior Fellow of the college, and director of the Centre for Mexican Studies at Oxford University.