By Rodrigo Uprimny, Dejusticia, July 28, 2024
https://www.dejusticia.org/column/el-negocio-del-crimen/
(Translated by Eunice Gibson, CSN Volunteer Translator)
“El negocio del crimen. El crecimiento del delito, los mercados ilegales y la violencia en América Latina,” (2023) by Marcelo Bergman*
“Crime in Latin America has become a multi-faceted business, sometimes transnational, sometimes purely local. In some cases, it’s about providing legal benefits, but through criminal networks. In other cases, the market is entirely illicit, like drug trafficking.”
That’s the name of a recent book by Argentinian sociologist Marcelo Bergman, obligatory reading for anybody who wants to better understand and confront one of the essential problems in Latin America: the increase in crime and violence.
With clarity of concept and systematic information, Bergman establishes that crime and violence in Latin America have increased in the last 25 years, and he supports that with solid statistics: increasing rates of victimization, increasing car theft, and increased rates of homicide.
Bergman also demonstrates that this increase in crime is specific to Latin America, as it has not taken place in other regions like Europe, North America, or Asia, and it has affected all of the countries in this region, although with differing intensities. There are countries that continue to be much more violent and unsafe, like Mexico or Colombia, and others much safer and more peaceful, like those in the Southern Cone; but crime has been increasing in all of them with the exception of Colombia, which has improved. Nevertheless, as Bergman points out, our country still maintains levels of crime and violence that are unacceptable in a democracy.
Bergman’s answer is that these increases can be explained because crime In the region has become a multifaceted business, sometimes transnational and sometimes purely local. Sometimes it’s about providing legal products, but through criminal networks, like selling stolen cell phones, or spare tires from stolen cars that have been scrapped. In other cases, the market is entirely illicit, like drug trafficking, which has had an obvious and dynamic role in the expansion and structuring of the crime business in the region. This has resulted from the articulation of the illegal networks with legal entities because of the government’s incapacity, particularly the incapacity of the Police and of the legal system, to control the expansion of crime.
It’s especially serious when we look at the environments where criminality is low, as in the Southern Cone, and environments where criminality is high, like Mexico, Guatemala, or Colombia. The analytical distinction is fundamental, so that one of Bergman’s essential arguments is that the policies that are efficient in low criminality environments, like longer prison sentences, are ineffective and even counter-productive in high criminality environments. Specifically, one of the parts of his book with the most impact is the chapter on “the sad history of prisons”. It demonstrates the tragedy of resorting to massive imprisonment in our region. And therefore, while not ceasing to learn from comparative analysis, we have to be very cautious in transporting strategies from one country to another.
Ultimately, this book is imperative if we are to understand and confront the security problems in our region with more clarity.