ABSTRACT
Over the past quarter century much of Latin America has witnessed a remarkable transformation from authoritarian regimes to elected civilian governments. Unfortunately, as is often the case, the bulk of these transitions have been accompanied by a notable deterioration in citizen security. Crime, both common local and organized transnational, has become a constant reality for much of the region’s population.1 Policing is usually inadequate if not incompetent, court systems are overwhelmed, the prison system has become a major source of training and recruits for organized crime, and widespread corruption both undermines efforts to respond and further erodes popular support for elected governments. It is a measure of both the problem’s scale and the public’s rising frustration that in at least two elections in this century the victors owed much of their support to perceptions that they were serious about combating crime because close relatives had been murdered.2
