City of Suspects

by Piccato, Pablo

• ISBN13: 9780822327509
• ISBN10: 0822327503
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-10-01
• Publisher: Duke Univ Pr

Summary

InCity of SuspectsPablo Piccato explores the multiple dimensions of crime in early-twentieth-century Mexico City. Basing his research on previously untapped judicial sources, prisonersrs" letters, criminological studies, quantitative data, newspapers, and political archives, Piccato examines the paradoxes of repressive policies toward crime, the impact of social rebellion on patterns of common crime, and the role of urban communities in dealing with transgression on the margins of the judical system. By investigating postrevolutionary examples of corruption and organized crime, Piccato shines light on the historical foundations of a social problem that remains the main concern of Mexico City today. Emphasizing the social construction of crime and the way it was interpreted within the moral economy of the urban poor, he describes the capital city during the early twentieth century as a contested territory in which a growing population of urban poor had to negotiate the use of public spaces with more powerful citizens and the police. Probing official discourse on deviance, Piccato reveals how the nineteenth-century rise of positivist criminology-which asserted that criminals could be readily distinguished from the normal population based on psychological and physical traits-was used to lend scientific legitimacy to class stratifications and to criminalize working-class culture. Furthermore, he argues, the authoritiesrs" emphasis on punishment, isolation, and stigmatization effectively created cadres of professional criminals, reshaping crime into a more dangerous problem for all inhabitants of the capital. This unique investigation into crime in Mexico City will interest Latin Americanists, sociologists, and historians of twentieth-century Mexican history.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	ix
Introduction	1	(12)
I THE CONTEXT	13	(60)
The Modern City	17	(17)
The Policed City	34	(16)
The Construction of Mexican Criminology	50	(23)
II THE PRACTICES	73	(88)
Honor and Violent Crime	77	(26)
Violence against Women	103	(29)
Money, Crime, and Social Reactions to Larceny	132	(29)
III THE CONSEQUENCES	161	(60)
The Invention of Rateros	163	(26)
Penal Experience in Mexico City	189	(32)
Conclusions: Crime Contested	211	(10)
Appendix: Statistics of Crime	221	(16)
Notes	237	(82)
Bibliography	319	(30)
Index	349