CURE FOR CRIMINALITY: REPRESSION OR INCLUSION ?

Latin America is in the grip of a crime epidemic, writes Bernardo Kliksberg, general coordinator of the Inter-American Initiative on Social Capital, Ethics and Development and the author of \'\'Towards an Economy with a Human Face\'\' . In this article for IPS, the author writes that the most popular approach to the new wave of crime is the \'\'strong hand\'\' -- the strengthening of repressive actions. The risks of this approach are evident. In Latin America, there is an emerging tendency to criminalise poverty, which can open the way to more extreme phenomena, like the extra-judiciary execution groups. In sharp contrast to the \'\'strong hand\'\' approach is the preventive approach, which holds that youth crime should be recognised as a different phenomenon, the roots and structural causes of which must be understood and confronted in a different way. The author argues that the real solution to youth criminality lies in devoting more resources to job creation, opportunities in sports, culture, or leisure for young people, strengthening family ties, and increasing the levels of education.