Download the file - United Nations Rule of Law

14Understanding Urban Safety and SecurityBox 1.2 Startling data on crime and violence in Brazil (2006)• São Paulo, Brazil, had 1 per cent of the world’s homicides, but only 0.17 per cent of theworld’s population.• At least 25,000 homes in São Paulo had security cameras to monitor entrances and exitsfrom their grounds,• There were 35,000 armed cars in Brazil.• Since the well-orchestrated attacks on police during May to June 2006, there was a 33 percent increase in armed windshields sales.• The Brazilian security market had reached some US$49 billion, about 10 per cent of grossdomestic product (GDP), of which 60 per cent were private expenditures.• In 2006, private security companies employed 1.5 million individuals in Brazil.Source: Esnal, 2006, p4An important aspectof urban crime andviolence has beenthe role of youthAlmost every city inthe world has developedprivatesecurity companiesand forcesthis problem, showing that some 200 million people aredrug users, a slight reduction over the last few years. Theimpact of specific drugs on these patterns is startling, withcocaine deaths increasing, while the global market formarijuana is about 162 million users.An important aspect of urban crime and violence hasbeen the role of youth. The WHO reports that during 2000,some 199,000 youth homicides were committed globally, or9.2 per 100,000 individuals. This is equivalent to 500people between 10 and 29 dying each day in youthhomicides, varying from 0.9 per 100,000 in high incomecountries to 17.6 in Africa and 36.4 in Latin America. Forevery fatality, there are from 20 to 40 victims of non-fatalyouth violence. 44 In some cases, these high numbers are theresults of gang violence in specific cities. In Africa, withnearly 75 per cent of the urban population living in slumsand 44 per cent of the population below 15 years of age, theconditions for gang formation are prevalent. This alsohighlights what is called ‘child density’ within a population(see Chapter 3). For example, in Cape Flats, Cape Town,South Africa, there are an estimated 100,000 gang memberswho are considered responsible for 70 per cent of thecrime. 45 The case of South Africa is particularly interestingbecause high rates of urban violence involving youth havetheir origins in the apartheid period and in patterns of policingand segregation. 46 Data on Nairobi, Kenya, shows similarresults, with very high crime rates and high rates ofviolence. 47 Much of this crime originates from slum areaswhere 60 per cent of Nairobi’s population lives on only 5 percent of the city’s land. 48 Mexico City is divided into zones bysome 1500 competing gangs. 49 Gang membership is aproblem across many cities. These estimates suggest the sizeof the problem: El Salvador (35,000), Guatemala (100,000)and Honduras (40,000). 50 In Guatemala, there are estimatesof 20,000 murders in gang warfare over the past five years.The following definition of this gang warfare helps to clarifythis phenomenon: ‘children and youth (who are) employedor otherwise participating in organized armed violencewhere there are elements of a command structure andpower over territory, local population or resources’. 51 Giventhe dominant role of media and perception of these issues,the definitions of various forms of crime and violence andthe establishment of useful comparative categories aboutboth origins and impacts are important foundational steps indeveloping useful policies and approaches to address theseproblems. In-depth empirical studies on neighbourhoodviolence in Kingston, Jamaica, demonstrated that manydifferent forms of violence can operate concurrently, withdiverse causes, mechanisms and outcomes. 52 Definitions andcategories of crime and violence will be discussed in somedepth in Chapters 3 and 4 of this Global Report. It is importantto note, however, that there are great differencesbetween so-called ‘top-down’ perceptions of the problem,and the consequent policy approaches, and other moreparticipatory ‘bottom-up’ perspectives and suggestedremedies. 53 Notions such as ‘zero tolerance’, as promulgatedby a former New York mayor a few years ago, ignore theimportant differences between the origins and the sites ofcrime. It is not surprising that the ‘zero tolerance’ approachfound little support in Mexico City when its supporters triedto export the model.While this overview has provided a picture of theglobal situation in cities, another dimension also deservesattention: the response to crime and, specifically, prevention.Beyond the strengthening of policing and the judicialsystem that will be discussed at length in later chapters, twospecific responses have become increasingly common: theprivatization of security and the role of community groups.Both of these responses come, in part, from the inadequacyof the police and criminal justice system to address theseproblems. Almost every city in the world has developedprivate security companies and forces. An estimate in 2000indicated that the annual growth of private security was 30per cent and 8 per cent, respectively, in the developing anddeveloped countries. 54 One study of South Africa reportedthat the number of private security guards has increased by150 per cent from 1997 to 2006, while the number of policedecreased by 2.2 per cent in the same period. 55 Thequestion of the balance between public and private crimeprevention is a major issue.A second and related aspect of private or ‘non-public’security is community security, where community groupsdecide to maintain security in their neighbourhoods. Thisprocess, involving what might be called ‘community buy-in’or, more dramatically, ‘vigilantism’, in some countries has itsroots in traditional culture and notions of justice in manycities. It also has become a widespread contemporaryphenomenon whereby specific crimes or outbreaks of crimelead to neighbourhood and community efforts, whethercitizens patrol their communities or groups are designated toperform this and other functions, such as the Young Lords inNew York City. One well-documented case is a group calledPeople against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD), which wasformed in Cape Town to murder gang leaders in order to stopviolence. This violent approach, however, led to attacks onPAGAD and actually increased the violence, 56 illustratinghow such efforts can become out of control. Beyond thesedramatic examples, the issue of community responsibility forurban security is a broad concern to be addressed by thisGlobal Report. Indeed, as will be suggested in subsequentchapters, the role of civil society at a general level and ofspecific communities is an essential part of achievingresilience in the face of these challenges.