Becoming the ‘Baddest’:Masculine Trajectories of Gang Violence in Medellín

Con base en 40 entrevistas de historias de vida con miembros de las pandillas de Medellín, Colombia, la presente investigación argumenta que muchos jóvenes se unen a las pandillas con el fin de emular y reproducir identidades masculinas que se consideran localmente ‘exitosas’. La acumulación de ‘capital masculino’ por parte de las pandillas, con sus significantes materiales y simbólicos de hombría, acompañados de demostraciones y manifestaciones estilísticas, lleva a los jóvenes a percibirlas como espacios de éxito masculino, lo cual impulsa la reproducción social de las pandillas. Una vez vinculados a la pandilla, se vuelven cada vez más ‘malos’, haciendo uso de la violencia para defender los intereses de la pandilla a cambio de capital masculino. Los líderes de las pandillas, conocidos localmente como los duros, tienden a ser los más malos. El ‘proceso de empandillamiento’ no debe entenderse como un comportamiento juvenil aberrante, sino más bien como un comportamiento lógico y práctico, dado que se percibe a la pandilla como un espacio aspiracional de formación de identidad para jóvenes que llegan a la mayoría de edad en un momento en que las condiciones estructurales de exclusión conspiran contra ellos

Dying for it: gangs, violence, and social change in urban Nicaragua

Youth gangs potentially constitute an ideal lens through which to explore the dynamics and ramifications of the new political economy of violence in Latin America, and this paper consequently presents and ethnographic case study of an urban Nicaraguan youth gang. It employs data derived from participant observation research conducted in 1996-97 and 2002 in a low-income neighbourhood in Managua. The first part of the paper provides a brief overview of crime and violence in contemporary urban Nicaragua, exploring some of its socio-economic consequences and situating gang violence within it. The second part offers an account of the neighbourhood's youth gang as it existed in 1996-97, followed by a description of the gang in 2002, focusing on violent gang practices. The third section considers the nature of these two manifestations of the gang and the general evolution of the gang between 1997 and 2002 from an institutional point of view

Estudios sobre pandillas juveniles en El Salvador y Centroamérica: una revisión de su dimensión participativa

Referencia de la publicación original: Portillo, N. (2003). Estudios sobre pandillas juveniles en El Salvador y Centroamérica. Apuntes de Psicología, 21 (3), 475-493.Las pandillas juveniles o maras representan uno de los fenómenos sociales más dramáticos de la historia reciente de El Salvador y otros países centroamericanos. Este artículo revisa, en conjunto. la metodología utilizadas en investigaciones sobre pandillas juveniles realizadas en Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua y Costa Rica, desde la década de los años 80 hasta la fecha. Además, describe cómo la dimensión participativa emergió con insospechadas consecuencias en el estudio, Solidaridad y violencia en las pandillas del gran San Salvador (Cruz y Portillo, 1998), realizado con el apoyo directo y activo de pandilleros y pandilleras como investigadores. Dicho enfoque, denominado acá investigación sujeto-participante, difiere de las múltiples formas implementadas para estudiar las pandillas en Centroamérica y se plantea como una opción metodológica, democrática y alternativa. para acceder al mundo de dichos grupos juveniles desde el ámbito académico.Street youth gangs known also “maras” represent one of the most dramatic social phenomena in the recent history of El Salvador and other Central American countries. This article reviews the different methodologies utilized in research conducted on street youth gangs in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, since the 1980 decade to the present. In addition, it describe how the participative dimension emerged with unexpected result in the study, Solidaridad y violencia en las pandillas del gran San Salvador [Solidarity and violence among San Salvador’s street gangs] (Cruz & Portillo, 1998), which was conducted with the direct and active participation of gang member a researchers. Such approach. called here subject-participant research. differs in many way from other methodologies used in Central America to study street youth gang and it is posed here as a more democratic and alternative methodology to access the world of such youth groups from the academia

Discourses on Violence in Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Nicaragua: Youth, Crime, and the Responses of the State

The paper analyzes the social construction of youth violence in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and El Salvador on the one hand, and the related security policies of the three states, on the other. In each country, there is an idiosyncratic way of constructing youth violence and juvenile delinquency. Also, each country has its own manner of reaction to those problems. In El Salvador youths are socially constructed as a threat to security, and the state implements predominantly repressive policies to protect citizens against that threat. In Nicaragua and Costa Rica, where the social discourse on youth violence is less prominent, the state's policies are neither very accentuated nor very coherent, whether in terms of repressive or nonrepressive measures. There are strong relations and mutual influences between the public's fear (or disregard) of youth violence and the state's policies to reduce it.Central America, youth violence, security policies, discourse analysis

PROBLEMÁTICA Y REALIDAD JURÍDICA DE LAS PANDILLAS JUVENILES EN LOS JUZGADOS DE FAMILIA DEL CERCADO DE AREQUIPA 2012

NOCIONES GENERALES ANÁLISIS HISTÓRICO ¿QUÉ ES UNA PANDILLA JUVENIL? ORÍGENES DE LAS PANDILLAS PARTICULARIDADES DE LAS PANDILLAS ORGANIZACIÓN DE LAS PANDILLAS EL VANDALISMO NOMINATIVO DE PANDILLAJE PERNICIOSO FACTORES QUE GENERAN LAS PANDILLAS ESTRUCTURA ORGANIZACIONAL DE LA PANDILLA LA VIOLENCIA JUVENIL COMO “PRODUCTO” SOCIAL EL CONTEXTO SOCIAL LAS NUEVAS FORMAS DE VIOLENCIA REVELADORA REALIDAD SOBRE LAS PANDILLAS EN AREQUIPA REALIDAD JURÍDICA DE LAS PANDILLAS PROBLEMÁTICA Y REALIDAD JURÍDICA DE LAS PANDILLAS JUVENILE

Making danger a calling: anthropology, violence and the dilemmas of participant observation

This paper contains reflections on the experience of fieldwork carried out in Nicaragua into urban gangs in Managua. It examines the dilemmas encountered by an anthropologist employing participant observation, in which he became accepted as a member of a gang. In the process, it provides an original insight into the inner workings of such urban gangs

Social Exclusion and Violence in Latin America and the Caribbean

This paper examines how social exclusion contributes to violence in communities throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Residents in socially excluded communities cannot depend on those institutions designed to protect them, and violence becomes an instrument to achieve certain outcomes, such as justice, security, and economic gain. When conventional methods of obtaining and working for increased social status, higher income, and wider influence are limited, as they often are in marginalized areas, some feel compelled to resort to violent acts. This paper discusses how social exclusion and violence interact in a vicious circle that leaves the socially excluded in a very hostile social environment where the borders between legal and illegal, legitimate and illegitimate are often fuzzy and uncertain. In this environment violence is used by a minority to acquire justice, security, authority and economic gain. The use of violence by this minority, however, affect the lives of the majority of excluded people that do not resort to violence. As youths are particularly vulnerable to this issue, this paper also examines the relationship between violence and the plight of Latin American youth gangs and street children.

Why Do the Children Flee? Public Security and Policing Practices in Central America

In this brief, author Mary Fran Malone discusses the security crisis in Central America and successful policing strategies for confronting this crisis. She reports that Central Americans’ experiences and perceptions of crime are linked to an increased likelihood of migration. In 2014, approximately 57,000 unaccompanied minors traveled from Central America to Mexico, continuing north to cross the U.S. border illegally. The large numbers of people fleeing Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras testify not only to the violence of illicit markets but also to the failure of these countries’ governments to fulfill their most important task—protecting the lives of their citizens. Not all Central American countries have failed at this task, however. Nicaragua and Panama have successfully created civilian police forces that have contained the crime crisis while also respecting the rights of citizens. Trust in police is significantly higher in Nicaragua and Panama than other countries in Central America, and people have more trust that the justice system will convict perpetrators of crime. If the United States aims to reduce the number of people fleeing north, it must invest more seriously in policing and public security practices that have a track record of success. After almost two decades, it is clear that the militarized and repressive policing strategies of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras do not work. As the cases of Nicaragua and Panama demonstrate, community-oriented policing strategies are effective in building citizens’ trust in their police and fostering a culture of respect for human rights

EVALUACIÓN DE LA FUNCIÓN FAMILIAR Y FACTORES SOCIO DEMOGRÁFICOS EN ADOLESCENTES INTEGRANTES DE PANDILLAS ATENDIDOS POR LESIONES EN EL HOSPITAL SERGIO BERNALES DE COLLIQUE, LIMA

ADOLESCENCIA DEFINICIÓN ETAPAS DE LA ADOLESCENCIA ASPECTO SOCIO ECONÓMICO DEMOGRÁFICO DE LOS ADOLECENTES LAS PANDILLAS DEFINICIÓN ANTECEDENTES HISTÓRICOS ASPECTOS GENERALES SOBRE LOSAS PANDILLAS CARACTERÍSTICAS DE LAS PANDILLAS FACTORES QUE GENERAN PANDILLAS ESTRUCTURA ORGANIZACIONAL COMPORTAMIENTO FINALIZACIÓN DE LA PANDILLA FAMILIA DEFINICIÓN FUNCIÓN DE FAMILIA TIPOS DE FAMILIA ENTORNO FAMILIAR DE LOS PANDILLEROS EVALUACIÓN DE LA FUNCIÓN FAMILIAR: EL APGAR FAMILIAR RESULTADOS FRECUENCIA DE ATENCIONES EN ADOLESCENTES SEGÚN PERTENENCIA A DISTRIBUCIÓN DE LOS NOMBRES DE LAS PANDILLAS DISTRIBUCIÓN DE ADOLESCENTES SEGÚN GRUPO Y MOTIVO DE CONSULTA DISTRIBUCIÓN DE ADOLESCENTES SEGÚN EDAD Y PERTENENCIA A PANDILLAS DISTRIBUCIÓN DE ADOLESCENTES SEGÚN INSTRUCCIÓN Y PERTENENCIA A PANDILLA