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Reseña:
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The extent of crime and the quality of policing in Latin America are matters of profound and immediate importance. When crime is brazen and pervasive, when policing is abusive and corrupt, they stifle the lives of all citizens, particularly those in poverty. They corrode the integrity of government; they sabotage economic development; they threaten the viability of society itself.Precisely because crime and policing affect so many aspects of society in Latin America, they are of interest to a wide range of donors in the region. By reducing crime and reforming police, donors hope to reduce poverty, strengthen democracy, expand the economy, and fuel social enterprise.Yet, until the last few years, donors in Latin America have been reluctant to engage directly in programs of crime reduction and police reform. The fields are so undeveloped that the actual impact of any specific program is uncertain at best, and the risks on many levels are great.All of these factors point to the value of collaboration among donors on this topic. By working more closely together, donors can support each other’s ambitions and speed the development of these fields, while reducing and managing the risks.To encourage more donors to take up these challenges, and to strengthen the collaboration among them, our three institutions joined together to organize the meeting and discussions in Buenos Aires in September 2002 that gave rise to this publication. We have been working together specifically on the issues of citizen safety and police reform in Latin America since 1998, and we are greatly encouraging by the growing interest in these issues among many donors since that time. We hope that this publication will encourage more donors to join this effort, taking these fields in new directions while making a real difference to the lives of so many citizens across the continent. |
