The Rule of Law In Central America Citizens' Reactions to Crime and Punishment

by Malone, Mary Fran T.

• ISBN13: 9781441104113
• ISBN10: 1441104119
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-01-12
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

The book is a thorough study that focuses on the impact of the current crime wave on citizens' respect for the law in countries such as Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. The work opens with a brief review of the literature on the rule of law and legal socialization, followed by an historical overview of the democratization and justice reform in Central America from the 1990s to the present. Set as a comparative, micro-level study, the work then looks at an array of measures from citizens' toleration of government abuses of power to vigilante justice and the reporting of crime to police. Lastly, an empirical model is developed to predict citizens' attitudes, combining both these micro-level individual attributes with macro-level measures of institutional performance. A unique look at the process of democratization from a comparative perspective, Citizens' Support for the Rule of Law in Central America it will appeal to faculty, researchers, and students interested in Latin American politics, comparative politics, and democratic transition.

Author Biography

Mary Fran T. Malone is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of New Hampshire, USA.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xii
The Rule of Law and the Challenge of the Crime Crisis	p. 1
The Rule of Law in Central America	p. 5
The Challenge of the Crime Crisis	p. 14
Citizens' Reactions to the Security Trap	p. 17
National Trends in Crime and Justice	p. 24
Historical Overview of National Political Development	p. 26
The Rule of Law and Justice Institutions: Reform after the Cold War	p. 33
Reforming Constitutions and Legal Codes	p. 33
Reforming Institutions	p. 40
Track Record of Reform	p. 46
Overview of Crime Crisis	p. 52
Organized Crime	p. 54
Common Crime	p. 58
State Responses to Crime	p. 60
Classifying Countries and Their Twin Challenges	p. 62
Conclusion	p. 64
Public Perceptions of Crime and Justice	p. 68
Perceptions of the Rule of Law and Its Corresponding Institutions	p. 75
Measuring Perceptions of Institutional Performance	p. 80
Perceptions of Crime	p. 84
Sociotropic and Pocketbook Perceptions	p. 84
Measuring Victimization and Fear of Crime	p. 86
The Impact of Public Perceptions on the Rule of Law	p. 90
Support for Extralegal Justice	p. 93
Extralegal Justice in Central America	p. 96
Should Authorities Always Uphold the Law? Examining Public Views	p. 107
Measuring Attitudes toward Officials Acting on the Margins of the Law	p. 107
Data Analysis: Should Authorities Always Uphold the Law?	p. 109
Public Support for Vigilante Justice	p. 117
Measuring Support for Vigilante Justice	p. 118
Measuring Attitudes toward Fellow Citizens	p. 120
Data Analysis: Support for Vigilante Justice	p. 120
Conclusion	p. 125
Reacting to Victimization	p. 127
Reporting Crime	p. 128
Measuring Crime Reporting	p. 131
Data Analysis: Examining Why Some Citizens Report Crime and Others Do Not	p. 134
Police-Society Relationships in Panama	p. 140
Public Perceptions of Reform Efforts	p. 143
Insights from Panama	p. 146
Conclusion	p. 148
Privatizing Security	p. 151
Trends in Private Security	p. 155
Private Responses to Public Insecurity (LAPOP 2008)	p. 161
Data Analysis of Private Security Investments	p. 165
Behavior Modifications	p. 169
Conclusion	p. 173
Conclusion	p. 176
Appendix: Latin American Homicide Data Sources and Years	p. 187
References	p. 188
Index	p. 203
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