Explaining Victimization Patterns in Brazil and Mexico: A Test of Routine Activities and Social Disorganization Perspectives

• In Event: New Frontiers in Cross-National Research on Victimization

Abstract

Routine activity and social disorganization theories that explain criminal victimization have been widely tested in the United States. These theories, however, have had more limited testing outside the U.S. context, especially in Latin America, due to the lack of reliable and consistent survey data on criminal victimization. Studies of the patterns of criminal victimization in this region have expanded our understanding of the applicability of these two perspectives for understanding victimization outside of the United States, often with results that contradict findings in the United States.
This paper intends to test the explanatory power of the routine activities and social disorganization theories using national survey data on criminal victimization from two Latin American countries: Brazil and Mexico. This comparison provides an opportunity to determine whether these contradictory results mentioned above extend outside of Brazil. Secondly, as the two largest countries in Latin America, with large regional differences, comparisons between Brazil and Mexico are apt for understanding the scope of differing victimization patterns as well as the social processes that could explain such patterns. Thirdly, rigorous testing in the Latin American context, with its marked differences from the U.S. and Western Europe, can significantly advance claims of generalizability of victimization theories.

Authors

• Corinne Davis Rodrigues, Federal University of Minas Gerais

• Valéria Cristina de Oliveira, Federal University of Minas Gerais