Political Repercussions of Crime and Violence in Latin America

In subjective perception and objective fact, many Latin American countries have experienced an epidemic of crime and violence during the last decade. Countries as variegated as Argentina, Venezuela, and El Salvador have suffered a tremendous upsurge of crime. As a result, crime now ranks among the most important concerns facing the population in a number of Latin American countries. What are the implications of this crime wave for Latin American politics? Is it likely to shake the stability of the region’s still fairly new democracies as more and more people come to clamor for la mano dura and thus push their countries back to authoritarian solutions? And will popular responses to this crime wave diminish the quality of democracy as people see the rule of law more and more as an obstacle to effective crime control? For instance, will more and more people take justice into their own hands--and resort to lynch justice? The present paper explores these important issues in a wide-ranging, yet not deep-reaching--i.e., an essayistic--fashion. My reflections are meant to stimulate discussion and therefore do not shy away from addressing controversial issues and tough trade-offs between competing values. In the “real world, ” it is unlikely that “all good things go together, ” especially when a problematic issue like crime is concerned. And it is the obligation of social science not to embellish reality, but to take a clear look at hard facts. The Problem: Latin America’s Recent Crime Wav