Brazil is a case in point. As I discussed last week, extremes of poverty and inequality in Rio de Janeiro have led to a wave of violent crime. Police, under public pressure, respond by killing hundreds of crime suspects every year. If police in Rio could investigate, if victims and witnesses could come forward in safety, if prosecutors could secure convictions, and if judges could resolve cases, crime could be managed. But as in much of Latin America, none of these conditions is met.
Crime is out of control.
So people look for other solutions. In poor neighborhoods in Venezuela and Mexico, lynchings and vigilante beatings have become the crime control method of choice. For merchants throughout the region, private security guards are preferred. In Rio, the police simply kill suspected criminals. The reasons for Latin America's ineffective systems of criminal justice vary by country.