June 2015 Research Report Public Disclosure Authorized Crime, Violence, and Community-Based Prevention in Honduras Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Justice, Security and Development Series Public Disclosure Authorized Louis-Alexandre Berg Marlon Carranza The Justice, Security and Development Series This research report is part of a series on Justice, Security and Development, produced with the generous support of the Bank- Netherlands Partnership Program (BNPP). The series presents the findings and critical reflections of a three-year work program aimed at improving development approaches to justice and security stresses in fragile and conflict-affected settings. 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Contact Details Justice and Rule of Law Governance Global Practice The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20433 USA worldbank.org/justice | [email protected] Cover Photo: Angels Maso/The World Bank 2 CRIME, VIOLENCE, AND COMMUNITY-BASED PREVENTION IN HONDURAS Research Report June 2015 Crime, Violence, and Community-Based Prevention in Honduras Justice, Security and Development Series Louis-Alexandre Berg Marlon Carranza Table of Contents Acknowledgments ..................................................................................................................IV About the Authors ..................................................................................................................IV Executive Summary .................................................................................................................V 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 OVERVIEW ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYSIS ....................................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................................ 4 2. The Evolution of Violent Crime in Honduran Neighborhoods ........................................ 6 2.1 NATIONAL AND TRANSNATIONAL TRENDS ............................................................................................................... 7 2.2 EVOLVING ACTORS: YOUTH GANGS, ORGANIZED CRIME, AND VIGILANTE GROUPS ......................................... 10 2.3 THE SHIFTING GEOGRAPHIES OF VIOLENCE AND FEAR ........................................................................................ 12 2.4 EVOLVING FORMS OF VIOLENCE .............................................................................................................................. 13 3. Preventing Violence within Communities: Coercion and Collective Action ............ 18 3.1 COMMUNITY CONTEXT: DISORDER, CONTROL, AND COHESION ........................................................................ 20 3.2 COERCIVE CONTROL BY INFORMAL ARMED ACTORS ............................................................................................ 21 3.3 COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE ACTION .......................................................................................................................... 23 3.4 COLLECTIVE MEASURES OF VIOLENCE PREVENTION ............................................................................................. 23 4. Conditions for Community-Based Prevention ................................................................ 29 4.1 FRAGMENTATION AND INTEGRATION OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS ......................................................... 30 4.2 THE VARYING ROLES OF COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS ......................................................................................... 32 4.3 RISK FACTORS AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION ............................................................................................... 37 5. Navigating the Institutional and Political Context .......................................................... 43 5.1 MUNICIPAL GOVERNANCE FROM COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVES ............................................................................ 43 5.2 NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND COMMUNITY-BASED PREVENTION: THE POLICE, THE JUSTICE SYSTEM, AND BEYOND ...................................................................................................................... 45 5.3 EXAMPLES OF EFFECTIVE RESPONSE: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND SCHOOL-BASED PREVENTION AND THE ROLE OF COMMUNITY NETWORKS ........................................................................................................ 47 5.3.1 Responding to Domestic Violence. .................................................................................................................... 47 5.3.2 School-Based Drug Prevention .......................................................................................................................... 48 6. Conclusion and Entry Points ............................................................................................ 50 Annex: Neighborhood Selection Methodology and Data ........................................................54 References............................................................................................................................... 62 CRIME, VIOLENCE, AND COMMUNITY-BASED PREVENTION IN HONDURAS III Acknowledgments This report was undertaken in support of the World Bank funded Safer Municipalities Project, which aims to sup- port Honduras by improving the capacity of national, municipal and community actors for violence prevention. The researchers who took part in the field work, Ana Mejia, Jaime Irias and Misael Castro conducted the interviews and focus groups and contributed observations, ideas and knowledge that shaped the report. The authors wish to thank the following people for their support: the personnel managing the Safer Municipalities Project at the Institituto de Desarollo Comunitario Agua y Saneamiento, Fondo Hondureno de Inversion Social (IDECOAS-FHIS), especially Zunilda Martell and Oscar Mandujano; World Bank staff Rodrigo Serrano-Berthet, Margarita Puerto Gomez, Marcelo Jorge Fabre, Carlos Felipe Jaramillo, Giuseppe Zampaglione, Martin Ochoa, Deborah Isser, Bernard Harborne, Doug Porter, Joan Serra-Hoffman and Lorena Cohan. Nancy Guerra of the University of Delaware also provided valuable input early on. The authors wish to extend their gratitude to those within the municipalities who facilitated the research, including Mayors Leopoldo Crivelli of Choloma, Alexander Lopez of El Progreso, and Carlos Aguilar of La Ceiba, as well as Roberto Zelaya, Gustavo Urbina, Rosario de Arias, and Jovany Izaguirre. The authors express special thanks to the community members who took the time to participate in the focus group discussions and interviews. This report was peer reviewed by Jose Miguel Cruz, Andres Villaveces, Rodrigo Serrano-Berthet and Bernard Harborne. About the Authors Louis-Alexandre Berg is a Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and a Justice and Conflict Specialist in the World Bank’s Justice, Rights and Public Safety Practice. He has conducted extensive field research on local dynamics of crime and violence and on the politics of security and justice system reform in conflict-affected countries. He previously served as a Rule of Law Adviser at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), an adviser to the U.S. Institute of Peace’s Security Sector Governance Program and a consultant to the United Nations Development