Devastating epidemic of crime and
insecurity in Latin America & Caribbean
By Luis Felipe López-Calva
Luis Felipe López-Calva
is UN Assistant Secretary-
General and UNDP Regional
Director for Latin America
and the Caribbean
UNITED NATIONS, May 15
2019 (IPS) - Development is a
very uneven process, accompanied
by heterogeneity in outcomes
across sectors, across
regions and across income
groups. Such process, Albert
Hirschman elegantly established
about 60 years ago, constantly
generates tensions and
demands for redistribution of
resources and power. In this
sense, conflict is inherent to
development.
Long term outcomes in
terms of prosperity, equity and
peace will always depend on
the way in which such tensions
are processed. Indeed, it
depends on the way in which
actors interact to solve these
tensions; it depends on effective
governance.
If tensions are solved by
excluding some groups systematically,
inequity and violence
are more likely to characterize
societies. Indeed, we
see in Latin America and the
Caribbean that violence has
become a mechanism to adapt
to these tensions and to process
conflict.
The Regional Human
Development Report 2013-
2014 “Citizen Security with a
Human Face” showed the ways
in which crime and insecurity
undermine development
in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The political
perspective argues
that recent processes
in LAC countries,
such as transitions
towards democracy,
shifts in political
agendas or even
the “War on Drugs”,
have weakened
state control and
left inefficient local
governments in
charge of public
safety.
Crime erodes the wellbeing
of citizens and deters
economic growth (Enamorado
et al, 2013).
Despite recent progress
in citizen security and marginal
reductions in violence,
LAC remains the most violent
region in the world. Indeed,
a recently released report by
Igarape Institute states that
while Latin America is home
to 8 percent of the world’s
population, 33 percent of all
homicides take place there.
Moreover, 17 of the 20 countries
with them most homicides
in the world are in LAC.
While, WHO classifies 10 homicides
per 100,000 inhabitants
as an epidemic, the average in
LAC was 24 in 2016, marginally
reduced to 21.6 in 2018.*
We see in the figure below
that homicide rates in the
Contributing Writers: Azad Ali, Tangerine Clarke,
George Alleyne, Nelson King, Vinette K. Pryce, Bert
Wilkinson, Lloyd Kam Williams
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region, in particular for some
countries in Central America
and the Caribbean, are much
higher than those of countries
with similar levels of GDP per
capita.
For example, Honduras and
Congo have similar GDP per
capital rates, however Honduras
suffers 56.5 homicides per
100,000 people, while Congo
suffers 9.3. Similarly, while
Mexico has close to 20 homicides,
Montenegro, with a
similar GDP per capital, only
has 4.5.
The homicide rate in Colombia
is over to 25, while in
Lebanon it is 4. What explains
these high rates of violent
crime in LAC?
Villalta, Castillo and Torres
offer an overview of existing
theories to answer this question
in the region. The economic
perspective argues that
individuals weight the costs
(of eventual punishments)
and benefits to decide whether
they engage in crime or not.
The social-structural perspective
views fluctuations in
crime and violence as a result
of changes in societal structures,
culture and institutions;
it supports the idea that
rising trends in criminality
are a consequence of changing
labor market conditions,
exclusion, and economic crises.
The political perspective
argues that recent processes
in LAC countries, such as
transitions towards democracy,
shifts in political agendas
or even the “War on Drugs”,
have weakened state control
and left inefficient local governments
in charge of public
safety.
Finally, social disorganization
theory argues that, similarly
to language, roles and
social expectations, antisocial
and criminal behaviors are
socially learned.
According to this view,
areas within cities with low
low-income levels, racial heterogeneity,
and residential
instability are more likely to
experience social disorganization.
Depending on the country
context, a combination of
these theories helps explain
crime in LAC.
Empirical research offers
support for the different theories:
the sense of impunity
in some countries encourages
law offenders to engage in
criminal activities; the lacks
of confidence in police and
justice systems sometimes
prevent victims from reporting
crimes (moreover, it’s not
rare that corrupt police collaborate
with organized crime
in some countries, for money
or fear); support for extralegal
violence is significantly
higher in societies characterized
by little support for the
existing political system; and
the lack of economic opportunities
also plays a role as
a strong correlation between
crime and youth unemployment
has been found.
Evidence also demonstrates
the effect of inequality in
crime (the case of Mexico is
discussed by Enamorado et
al, 2016).
As I have mentioned in the
past, the pavement of development
in LAC requires effective
governance as pre-condition
to improve productivity,
inclusion and resilience. That
is, effective governance is
about creating socio-economic
opportunities, strengthening
institutions and enhancing
citizen security.
These are challenging
tasks as these figures show.
Fact-based initiatives such
as INFOSEGURA which aims
to promote and improve the
quality of information on citizen
security in the region, are
critical public policy instruments
to address this challenge.
*Homicides rates are
expressed per 100,000 inhabitants
throughout the post.
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