NCJ Number
184711
Editor(s)
Carlos A. Aguirre,
Robert Buffington
Date Published
2000
Length
273 pages
Annotation
These essays address many of the key questions in Latin American history from the changing perspectives of criminality under the influences of modernization, class, gender, and state policies.
Abstract
The essays are set in various historic periods, extending from the late colonial period (later 18th century) to the conflict-ridden era of nation building in the 19th century and ending with the most recent patterns of crime and reaction. In focusing on these historic periods, the essays reflect on the lasting and adaptive powers of legal concepts and the governing elites' attitudes toward people whose behaviors were contrary to their normative expectations and interests. All the essays demonstrate that over the past two centuries the state has greatly increased the scope and intensity of its intervention into Latin American societies, sometimes with disastrous results. This process began in earnest toward the end of the 19th century with the widespread dissemination of positivism and social Darwinism, which gave privilege to "scientific" expertise and favored an uncontested, top-down style of social reform in the name of "order and progress." The penchant for criminalizing any opposition to established authority is especially distressing in the context of Latin America's recent past, conflicted present, and uncertain future. These questions remain: (1) Will democratic promises be fulfilled? (2) Will the restructuring demanded by economic modernization bring social justice? (3) Or will widespread repression in the name of "order and progress" again cast its authoritarian repression over the region? Chapter notes, a 74-item bibliography, and a selected filmography