Crime and Violence as Development Issues in Latin America and the Caribbean

Crime and violence have emerged in recent years as major obstacles to development objectives in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries. The paper explicates an agenda for future work that may assist LAC countries by discussing 'policy domains' where action is required. Such domains include reducing urban poverty, targeting efforts on 'at-risk' groups, building or rebuilding social capital, strengthening municipal capacity for combating crime and violence, and reforming the criminal justice system.