Crime, Violence, and Justice in Latin America

Carlos Solar is a lecturer at the Department of Sociology and a member of the Centre for Criminology at the University of Essex. Previously, he was a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Oxford. He is the author of Government and Governance of Security: The Politics of Organised Crime in Chile (Routledge, 2018). His recent publications have appeared in Current Sociology, Journal of Cyber Policy, Journal of Strategic Studies, International Politics, British Politics, Latin American Policy, Policy Studies, Peace Review, Politics and Policy, Democracy and Security, and Global Crime, among other journals.Carlos A. Pérez Ricart is an assistant professor at the Department of International Studies at Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE), Mexico. Previously, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Contemporary History and Public Policy of Mexico at the University of Oxford. His recent publications include peer-reviewed articles in Global Governance, Foro Internacional, The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs, and "US pressure and Mexican anti-drug efforts from 1940 to 1980", in Beyond the Drug War in Mexico: Human rights, the Public Sphere and Justice (Routledge, 2018).

"This excellent book offers a timely and insightful discussion of contemporary conditions in the realm of public security in Latin America. The collection of well-thought, multidisciplinary essays, based on solid field work, provides readers with an encompassing account of topics including new forms of urban and rural violence, security governance, and the rule of law. The book's transnational approach represents an innovation in public security studies, which broadens our perspective on existing debates. A must read for scholars and policymakers grappling with one of the most pressing challenges confronting Latin American societies."Andreas E. Feldmann, University of Illinois Chicago"Crime, Violence and Justice in Latin America brings together an interdisciplinary team of scholars who offer profound insights into the logic of violence across some of the most insecure contexts throughout Latin America. From distinct and renewed points of view, each author carefully disaggregates the intricate interactions between the different actors that comprise the state, the criminal underworld, and the citizenry. The book is particularly unique in its analysis of the policy approaches that Latin Americans have experimented with to address crime. Academics and policymakers alike will benefit from the novel analytical frameworks the volume offers to unpack the complex phenomena surrounding criminal activity, as well as the rich information this volume offers in each chapter."Sandra Ley, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE)

• 1. Introduction: Crime, Violence, and Justice in Latin America Part 1. Logics of Crime 2. Reflections on Youth, Norms, and Violence in Colombia’s Criminal Underworld 3. Gangs and Criminal Governance in El Salvador Part 2: Geographies of Violence: Urban and Rural Scenarios 4. The War on Criminality in Rio de Janeiro: Pacifying Unruly Territories? 5. Micro-dynamics and Political Economy of the Criminal War in Tierra Caliente, Mexico 6. Organized Crime and Political Mobilization along Honduras’ Drug Routes Part 3: Circulation of Policy Knowledge 7. Experts, Elites, and the Making of Safe Cities in Guatemala 8. Why does Colombia Export Security Expertise? Security Cooperation Between Status and Bureaucracy 9. Sí Ex-Militares, No Ex-Policías: Military Fetishism in Mexico’s Private Security Industry Part 4: Criminal Justice and Homicide Investigation 10. Between Delegation and Strategic Defection: Police, the Judiciary, and the Politics of Criminal Investigation in Argentina 11. On Homicide Rates: Sketching an Analytical Framework from the Brazilian Case 12. CSI in the Tropics: Evaluating Team Coordination for Homicide Investigation in Bogotá, Colombia 13. Final Remarks: Security in Latin America post COVID-19