New report urges solutions to crime in Latin America News
New report urges solutions to crime in Latin America

A new report [text, PDF] by IGARAPÉ Institute outlines the continuing rise in crime in Latin America and demands urgent solutions.

According to the report released Thursday, crime rates will continue to rise until new innovative preventive programs are implemented. Currently, Latin America is home to 8 percent of the world’s population yet experiences 33 percent of the world’s homicide. Highly concentrated in the region with Brazil, Columbia, Mexico and Venezuela, the area accounts for 1 in 4 homicides globally.

Throughout Latin America, public confidence in the criminal justice system has been increasingly low, with large portions of the population showing no faith in the judiciary or law enforcement.

Although Latin America has taken steps in its growing devotion to citizen-based security, the report urges for more innovative strategies to decrease the numbers of homicides and other violent crimes.

The various solutions pointed out in the report address taking preventive measures, such as employment opportunities and youth education, while increasing citizen cooperation in the push for an overall safer region