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Homicides in Guatemala: The Challenge and Lessons of Disaggregating Gang-Related and Drug Trafficking-Related Murders

Homicides in Guatemala: The Challenge and Lessons of Disaggregating Gang-Related and Drug Trafficking-Related Murders

Discerning the motives and actors behind the scourge of homicides in the Northern Triangle region is too often left to high level officials who routinely attribute the vast majority of homicides to drug trafficking organizations and street gangs without necessarily assessing the data. While that is the politically expedient answer, it seems to be too easily accepted. 

Field Notes: Report from Honduras

Field Notes: Report from Honduras

Violence in Central America is not only a function of international drug trafficking. By contrast, it is a multidimensional problem that requires a more sophisticated understanding of its causes.

Restoring Paradise in the Caribbean: Combatting Violence with Numbers

Restoring Paradise in the Caribbean: Combatting Violence with Numbers

While citizen security has become an ever-increasing concern for many Caribbean countries, the magnitude of the problem has not been matched with an equally robust response in terms of research. This volume analyses new data collected in household and business victimization surveys. 

Toward a safer Latin America: A new perspective for crime prevention and control

Toward a safer Latin America: A new perspective for crime prevention and control

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. 

 

What is the relationship between organized crime and homicide in Latin America?

What is the relationship between organized crime and homicide in Latin America?

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. 

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