Download full text
(397.8Kb)
Citation Suggestion
Please use the following Persistent Identifier (PID) to cite this document:
https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-386425
Exports for your reference manager
Youth violence in Central America: discourses and policies
[journal article]
Abstract The article 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,... view more
The article 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 relationships and mutual influences between the public’s fear (or disregard) of youth violence and the state’s policies to reduce it.... view less
Keywords
adolescent; violence; Central America; Nicaragua; Costa Rica; El Salvador; domestic security; security sector; criminality; delinquency; crime fighting; youth policy; public opinion; formation of consciousness; discourse analysis
Classification
Social Problems
Criminal Sociology, Sociology of Law
Special areas of Departmental Policy
Document language
English
Publication Year
2011
Page/Pages
p. 1459-1498
Journal
Youth & Society, 43 (2011) 4
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X10384236
ISSN
1552-8499
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
Deposit Licence - No Redistribution, No Modifications
With the permission of the rights owner, this publication is under open access due to a (DFG-/German Research Foundation-funded) national or Alliance license.