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Una de las razones por las cuales la sensación de inseguridad y la desconfianza en las instituciones se encuentran en un punto alto en la actualidad colombiana es la reincidencia delincuencial. En efecto, 21% de los criminales aprehendidos y judicializados reinciden en actividades criminales. Aún más alta sería dicha cifra si se considera la reincidencia de aquellos criminales que no fueron judicializados debido al gravemente alto nivel de impunidad (94% según datos de la Fiscalía General de la Nación). Completando un círculo vicioso, la desconfianza en las autoridades que lleva a la no-denuncia crea las condiciones que permiten continuar y aumentar dicha reincidencia. Siendo un punto neurálgico de discusión en la actual carrera presidencial colombiana, la Fundación Ideas para la Paz estudia el fenómeno y ofrece posibles soluciones para mitigar el flagelo.

In the U.S., black males lose more years of potential life before age 65 to homicide than to America’s leading overall killer—heart disease. A large body of research emphasizes that—beyond institutional factors—choices and behavior also contribute to these outcomes, including decisions around dropping out of high school, involvement with drugs or gangs, or responses to confrontations that could escalate to serious violence. In this paper we present the results of three large-scale randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that seek to reduce crime and dropout by changing the decision-making of disadvantaged youth at elevated risk for these outcomes.

This paper is the first to conduct a systematic analysis in different countries of the region to identify cities where there have been improvements in crime records that allow for rigorous analysis of crime and place. The main objective is to understand recent crime concentration and hot spot dynamics in the selected cities to better inform crime prevention and reduction strategies in the region and thus promote evidence-based public safety policies. It is of particular interest to see if the patterns are comparable with those of other developed cities and thus if their policing strategies could be adopted.

This document provides an in-depth analysis of the state of the art in citizen security research, not only to identify critical knowledge gaps in the literature—ones that the IDB will endeavor to close over the next few years—but also to contribute to the dissemination of evidence-based crime reduction and prevention strategies, providing a solid starting point to take stock of what we know and what the priorities for future research should be.

A mix of social policy and crime prevention programs is often proposed to keep crime rates low. Although the association between general social programs and specific programs to fight crime is unclear, this type of social intervention is commonly associated with a reduction in crime. This paper examines the causal link between social policy and crime prevention programs by evaluating previously adopted crime prevention programs in Minas Gerais.