During the past decade, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has become one of the most violent regions in the world. According to a global study on homicides from the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, six Latin American and Caribbean countries (Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, El Salvador, and Venezuela) are among the 10 most violent countries in the world. Although the LAC region represents 8.5 percent of the global population, it accounts for an estimated 30 percent of the world’s homicides. In several countries, homicide rates have reached epidemic proportions. Citizen insecurity has become a key development issue and a matter of serious concern for citizens in the region.

The latest AmericasBarometer survey, a comparative survey funded through the Latin America Public Opinion Project covering 28 countries of North, South, and Central America and the Caribbean, shows that perceptions of insecurity and fear of crime among Latin American and Caribbean citizens have increased significantly during the past decade. In 2014, 61.2 percent of survey respondents said they felt either very or somewhat unsafe. Not surprisingly, for many Latin American and Caribbean citizens, crime and insecurity have become their number one problem, surpassing unemployment and the economy as the top concerns.

Democracy International has prepared a Field Guide to support USAID officers and other practitioners in the LAC region who are working on citizen security. The guide provides a conceptual framework for understanding crime, violence, and prevention as part of broader citizen-security systems; evidence-based information about effective interventions to prevent crime and violence; and practical advice and tools on how to design, implement, measure, and evaluate crime and violence prevention and citizen security projects. The guide incorporates the research findings of academic and development practitioners in an analysis of crime and violence in the region.

Photo credit: Nicolas Nova