NCJ Number
137481
Editor(s)
M K Huggins
Date Published
1991
Length
278 pages
Annotation
These 13 papers examine vigilantism in Latin America in recent years and question whether the modernization of Latin American societies and their governments has been associated with transformation to more democratic forms.
Abstract
Individual papers focus on specific kinds of citizen violence including violence against authority, violence against other citizens through lynchings, and citizen quasi-official violence against citizens through the justiceiros in Brazil. Other papers focus on the covert government violence against citizens through death squads and other police or military violence in Colombia, Guatemala, and Peru. Additional papers examine violence by on-duty police against alleged criminals and subversives and the role of the United States in training police in Latin America. Further papers discuss the ways in which violent abuse of human rights is discussed and made routine through national security legislation, legal judgments, and social scientific explanations. Chapter reference notes, index, and 130 references