Regulation dynamics of lethal violence in Argentina: Criminal groups, illegalized drug markets and police actions in Rosario and CABA

• Grant number: 23/15378-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: October 01, 2024
• End date: July 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology - Urban Sociology
• Principal Investigator: Luana Dias Motta
• Grantee: Thalia Giovanna Marques de Sousa
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Latin America accounts for a third of the world's homicides, even though it has less than ten percent of the world's population. The sociological literature on homicides, especially that dedicated to understanding the relationship between criminal groups and law enforcement, suggests that conflicts arising from this relationship, crossed by illegal drug markets, are the main cause of lethal violence in the region. In order to contribute to understanding Latin American homicides, this research seeks to identify the mechanisms for regulating lethal violence in Argentina, the country with the second lowest homicide rate in Latin America. In the country, we will study two cities with very different dynamics of lethal victimization: Rosario, with rates above 20 per 100,000 inhabitants, and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA), with rates below 3 per 100,000 inhabitants, both for the year 2022. The general objective is to understand how the relationships between the triad of criminal groups, illegal drug markets and police forces operate in the regulation of homicides in Rosario and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina, over the last decade. This triad of dynamics will be observed through a multi-sited and multi-methodological research approach. Qualitatively, the mechanisms for regulating homicides in each context will be reconstructed through context will be reconstructed through ethnographic description, combined with the explanatory hypotheses produced quantitative data on homicide rates, both at an aggregate level and disaggregated by sociodemographic profile.