Territoriality, Legitimacy, and Empowerment in Citizen Security, and Crime Control in Latin America

Literature on urban safety in Latin America is usually anchored in economic and institutional arguments related both to the deterrence and broadening of the rule of law for resolution of conflicts. These ideas are consistent with multilateral development bank and non government organizations perspectives. Many of these arguments have not been seriously considered within the institutional and cultural context of Latin American societies. This article suggests a revision of these issues across three dimensions, with particular reference to police performance and the reduction of violence. First we must consider locality and decentralization as a way of fostering containment policies through the idea of inter-subjective limited arrangements. Secondly, we must consider the legitimacy given to the social control system understood as congruence between principles and effective adoption of decisions. Thirdly, citizen empowerment, as effective protection of rights and reduction of asymmetry in both formal and informal control is studied.