Effectiveness and corruption in the criminal justice system of Latin America: An overview

ABSTRACT

Latin America is the most violent region in the world. Recent research on the causes of crime have concluded that institutional effectiveness and corruption appear to be relevant variables explaining variations in crime trends. However, there is scarce research that focuses on understanding how these variables impact the criminal justice system and how they may affect crime. This paper aims to add to the literature by providing a theoretical framework on how effectiveness and corruption affects crime. Further, it reviews the current state of the criminal justice system in Latin America (i.e., the police, the judiciary, and the prison system) and offers a summary of how effective and corrupt these institutions are. Based on a high-level overview of primary research it is found that the criminal justice system is ineffective and suffers from high levels of corruption and, consequently, its capacity of capturing, judging and rehabilitating criminals is limited.

KEYWORDS:

• Effectiveness
• Corruption
• Criminal justice system
• Crime
• Latin America

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

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Gonzalo Croci

Gonzalo Croci holds a PhD from the Institute of Security and Crime Science of UCL. He is a associate professor at Universidad ORT Uruguay, a guest lecturer at the Hertie School and a senior fellow at the Center for Latin American Studies on Insecurity and Violence (CELIV). His research focuses on security and organized crime in Latin America, in particular studying the variables that affect violent crimes and the policies used to deter them. He regularly consults for several organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), DCAF - Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance and the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC).