ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the violence and crime in the region, specifically in urban areas where social interaction has been tarnished by the constant preoccupation of being a victim of a crime. It focuses on the crisis of criminal justice system institutions, especially police and justice, which are considered at best ineffective. The chapter presents the punitive populism that is popular in political narratives in Latin America. It also describes different fear of crime contexts that could be used as examples of the complexities of developing a theoretical framework. Fear of crime is an important topic for politicians and citizens in Latin America. Social consequences of fear of crime and specifically the perception of being a risk of becoming a victim of a violent crime are manifold. In the Chilean case, fear has risen in all perspectives, from the general perception of levels of insecurity in the country to the evaluation of risk of personal victimisation.
