Table of Contents

Preface Introduction: Vigilantism and the State: A Look South and North Mob Lynching, Popular Violence, and Justiceiros Lynchings--Life by a Thread: Street Justice in Brazil Popular Responses and Urban Violence: Lynching in Brazil Police, People, and Preemption in Argentina Authoritarian Society: Breeding Ground for Justiceiros Paramilitary and Parapolice Death Squads Guatemala: The Recourse of Fear All the Minister's Men: Paramilitary Activity in Peru Institutional Crisis, Parainstitutionality, and Regime Flexibility in Colombia: The Place of Narcotraffic and Counterinsurgency The Discourse about Violence How Not to Think about Torture: Violence, Theory, and the Problems of Explanation Legislation and National Security in Latin America Extralegal Police Violence "Extraordinary" Police Operations in Venezuela Police and Political Crisis: The Case of the Military Police Police Deadly Force as Social Control: Jamaica, Brazil, and Argentina U.S.-Supported State Terror: A History of Police Training in Latin America Select Bibliography Index

Promotional Information

This book is the first major analysis of the vigilantism that accompanies the economic, political, and social disintegration occurring in many Latin American countries.

About the Author

MARTHA K. HUGGINS is Roger Thayer Stone Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Union College, Schenectady, New York. Her publications include From Slavery to Vagrancy in Brazil and articles and papers on crime, violence, and social policy.