Arresting less and punishing crime adequately: crucial ways to combat violence in Latin America
On 31/07/201724/07/2019
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Arresting less and punishing crime adequately: crucial ways to combat violence in Latin America

InNews, Violence Reduction

Statistics indicate that the greater the number of prisoners, the higher the rate of violence in our continent. In order to reverse this situation, it is necessary to change the society’s view of crime, jail and the recovery of prisoners. However, how can we change this paradigm? This was the central topic of discussion during the debate organized by the Humanitas360 Institute, which brought together more than 20 professionals, researchers and social organizations in Brazil and Argentina.

The proposal of H360 for the participants was to begin with the collective construction of solutions through a continuous dialogue, the exchange of materials and experiences while seeking new interactions between the projects developed by the partners. The necessary tools for this process include the concept of Ashoka’s paradigm shift, Theory U, created by Otto Scharmer at MIT, and the ideas of Design Thinking disseminated by IDEO. The success of this first panel discussion can be summed up in the words of former justice minister José Gregori (photo): “ Today’s event served to analyze the problem. We need to continue this debate at the next seminar, in which we will meet with all the material we share in order to move forward with more ideas from a practical and legislative perspective. ”

In addition to the former Prime Minister, the meeting was attended by researchers, professionals from different areas of the prison system, former prisoners, journalists and several NONGs working in this area such as the Institute for the Defense of Human Rights (IDDD in Portuguese), the Igarapé Institute, the Action for Peace Institute and the Espartanos Institute of Argentina.

It is important to highlight that the IDDD and the Igarapé Institute are part of the criminal justice network that created the “Mass incarceration is not justice” campaign. This campaign is an example of the initiatives that are advancing in the direction of the paradigm shift that H360 proposes and should be promoted by all the partners that were part of this first discussion.

On this page you will find a video that summarizes the main points of the panel discussion as well as a video of each participant with their full contribution. If you work with issues related to prison systems and the fight against violence, and wish to be part of this process, please COMPLETE THE APPLICATION and a member of our team will contact you.