The Effects of Territorial Availability on Large-Scale Criminal Violence: Addressing the Elephant in the Room

Large-scale criminal violence (LCV) as a phenomenon has had little academic discussion despite its large effects in the lives of thousands of people around the world, with regions such as Latin America being particularly affected by it. Despite the extensive literature on civil conflicts on one hand, and criminal and gang behavior on the other, there is still an important gap on the causes of violence perpetrated by organized criminal actors. This thesis contributes to this research gap by asking under what conditions do criminal actors trigger large-scale violence? Through a quantitative cross-country study focused on Latin America, this thesis explores the role that territorial availability plays in the onset of LCV. Empirical findings were not conclusive due to a lack of statistical significance; however, data seems to suggest that higher levels of territorial availability could be associated with an increased likelihood of LCV onset, especially when controlling for factors such as equal resource distribution and when adjusting the sample size to include only state with no active conflicts. Finally, this research points to the imperious need of better data regarding criminal violence, and criminal-related homicides to gain better knowledge of LCV patterns and to build evidence that supports pathways towards reducing it.