Inequality, unemployment and crime in Latin American cities

Crime rates in many Latin American cities tend to be very high. But there is also diversity between and within cities. Regardless of whether the role of deterrence or those of poverty and inequality are emphasised as causes of crime, the use of aggregate data in statistical work may provoke serious unobserved-heterogeneity biases. Diversity, divisiveness and heterogeneity may also affect future trends, including further vigilantism, official or semi-official violence, segmentation, privatisation and medievalisation. The discussion is completed by some ideas as to the possibility that Latin America's present may be an accurate forecast of Europe's future.