Details about project, publications, resources and participants
About the project
There is a lot of crime in Latin America. This is closely connected to the growth of US drug markets, the brutalization of drug trafficking, the increasingly important role of gangs, poverty, diminishing trust in governments, and the weakness or failure of states.
By developing a culturally sensitive life-course criminology, the research project 'Crime in Latin America' (CRIMLA) aimed to understand the role of family, employment, culture and the state in criminal trajectories and careers in Latin America. Combining criminological theory with institutional, cultural and narrative studies, the objective was to develop research and theorizing from the Global South.
CRIMLA, headed by professor of criminology Sveinung Sandberg, explored the overall research question “What was the best way to theorize and understand the criminal careers and life-course trajectories of Latin American offenders?”
These questions were addressed through qualitative life story interviews with prisoners in seven Latin American countries: Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile.
CRIMLA included several research exchanges and had a cross continental advisory board that facilitated mutual learning between criminology and related disciplines in Scandinavia and Latin America.
Outputs
The project has published three books, twenty-two journal articles in international peer-reviewed journals, and one book chapter. The empirical and theoretical insights and contributions of CRIMLA will furthermore be summarized in the book Trajectories to crime in Latin America: Towards a global life-course criminology (2026).
Another important aim of CRIMLA was to lay the groundwork for an ERC application. Sandberg got an ERC Advanced Grant accepted that will commence in January 2026. The project CRIMLIFE builds on CRIMLA but expands the scope to five additional countries across three more continents, including Norway, and includes questionnaire survey research in prisons in all these locations.
CRIMLA hosted a large research conference with more than 100 participants in Rio de Janeiro, co-organized a summer school for Norwegian and Latin American students, and a writing workshop for Latin American PhD students. Two additional PhD candidates and several research collaborations and initiatives have also resulted from the CRIMLA research.
Advisory board
- Antonella Tiravassi
- Fabiana Severi
- Mauricio Dieter
- Ricardo Lillo
- Astrid Liliana Sánchez Mejía
- Luis Enrique Amaya
- Corina Giacomello
- Benedicte Bull
- Alejandro Colazi
- Christoffer Carlsson
Researchers
- Inés Mancini
- Evangelina Caravaca
- Milena Balardini
- Heloisa Oliveira
- Sarah de Freitas
- Henrique Britto de Melo
- Tamy da Silva Picolo
- Eduarda Szpilman
- Davi Sampaio
- Luana Rabelo
- Vitor Dieter
- Jessica Mata
- María Victoria Rodríguez
- Aldemar Ramos
- Ángeles Cuchimba
- Mauricio Silva
- Elizabeth Pineda
- María Rosa Paguada
- Piotr Chomczynski
- Luis Enrique Amaya
- Verónica Montoya
- Nancy Gutiérrez
- Magaly Quispe
- Gabriela Reyes
- Carla Ariscain
- Liza Zuñiga Collado
