A ticking time bomb? Penal populism and the growing problem of growing prison populations in Latin America

• In Event: Crime and Prisons in Latin America: New Evidence

Abstract

Is the increasing of prison populations and severity of sentences an aid or impediment to control crime? Several Latin American countries are currently going through a wave of increasing convictions and severity of sentences which is resulting in an unprecedented growth of its prison populations. Aside of public policy implications, this trend creates a unique opportunity to study the effects of penal populism in actual time. This presentation will report the results of a probabilistic survey of prison inmate populations conducted in six different Latin American

Author

• Carlos J Vilalta Perdomo, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE)