Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Illegal Markets, Violence, and Inequality pp 1–15Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Introduction: Drug Markets and Violence in Recife, Brazil

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

  • 321 Accesses

Abstract

In a country already ravaged by violence, Recife has stood out, for a generation, as a champion of homicides. The share of harm contributed by drug markets to this tragedy must be approached without assuming that violence is inherent to their functioning. The analysis must focus instead on the governance of those markets and on the extent to which their participants are deterred, or not, from resorting to violence. In Recife, inequality structures the scope and limits of that deterrence and the challenges of drug markets governance. Exploring these problems, in such a context, poses in turn peculiar methodological problems whose imperfect solution implies significant trade-offs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD   59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Albeit one whose exact size is impossible to ascertain, as a large proportion of all homicides in the country are never resolved and as “drug-related” violence, as we show here, can take a wide variety of forms: from assaults to procure drug money or drugs themselves or punishment for those assaults to confrontation between drug gangs that have less to do with the drugs themselves than with the “honour” or reputation of traffickers or gang members.

  2. 2.

    Gary Libecap has shown the same variation in the “solutions” people found, at first on their own, to the property rights problem for minerals, water resources, whales, and fisheries (1989) and Anderson and Hill for land and territories in the United States’ “not so wild Wild West” (2004).

  3. 3.

    Cf. also the official website of the programme: http://www.portais.pe.gov.br/web/sedsdh/programa-atitude1 (accessed 2017 07 13).

  4. 4.

    Possession of drugs for the strict purpose of personal use is not criminalized in Brazil, though the law does not clearly establish a threshold, leaving much leeway to police officers and putting users largely at their mercy.

  5. 5.

    There is a third state-level police force, called “technico-scientific” and made up of experts who support civil police investigations. Willis (2015): 31–34.

Bibliography

  • Anderson, Terry L., and Peter J. Hill. 2004. The Not So Wild, Wild West. Property Rights on the Frontier, 280p. Stanford: Stanford Economics and Finance.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arias, Henrique Desmond. 2006. Drugs and Democracy in Rio, 304p. Chapel Hill/London: University of North Carolina Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beccaria, Cesare. 1995. ‘On Crimes and Punishments’ and Other Writings, 177p. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, Original edition, 1764.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cerqueira, Daniel, Renato Sergio de Lima, Samira Bueno, Luis Iván Valencia, Olaya Hanashiro, Pedro Henrique G. Machado, and Adriana dos Santos Lima. 2017. Atlas da Violência 2017. Rio de Janeiro: Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública, Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada. http://www.ipea.gov.br/portal/images/170602_atlas_da_violencia_2017.pdf. Accessed 17 June 2017.

  • Chioda, Laura. 2017. Stop the Violence in Latin America. A Look at Prevention from Cradle to Adulthood, 397p. Washington, DC: The World Bank.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Coomber, Ross. 2015. A Tale of Two Cities: Understanding Differences in Levels of Heroin/Crack Market-Related Violence. Criminal Justice Review 40 (1): 7–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daudelin, Jean. 2017. Not Killer Methods: A Few Things We Get Wrong When Studying Violence in Latin America. In Violence in Latin America and the Caribbean: Subnational Structures, Institutions, and Clientelism, ed. Tina Hilgers and Laura Macdonald, 39–59. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Eckstein, Harry. 1975. Case Studies and Theory in Political Science. In Handbook of Political Science, ed. Fred Greenstein and Nelson Polsby, vol. 7, 79–138. Reading: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garfinkel, Michelle R., and Stergios Skaperdas. 2007. Economics of Conflict: An Overview. In Handbook of Defense Economics, ed. Todd Sandler and Keith Hartly, 649–709. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldstein, Paul. 1985. The Drugs/Violence Nexus: A Tripartite Conceptual Framework. Journal of Drug Issues 15 (4): 143–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grillo, Carolina C. 2008. Fazendo o doze na pista: um estudo de caso do mercado ilegal de drogas entre os jovens de classe média do Rio de Janeiro, 117p. MA Thesis, Sociology and Anthropology, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guerrero-Gutiérrez, Eduardo. 2011. La raíz de la violencia. Nexos (México), June 1st. https://www.nexos.com.mx/?p=14318. Accessed 18 Dec 2017.

  • Hammersvik, E. 2014. Four Barriers and a Set of Values That Prevent Violence Among Cannabis Growers. International Journal of Drug Policy 26 (3): 290–295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Human Rights Watch. 2015. The State Let Evil Take Over The Prison Crisis in the Brazilian State of Pernambuco. https://www.hrw.org/report/2015/10/19/state-let-evil-take-over/prison-crisis-brazilian-state-pernambuco. Accessed 1 April 2016.

  • Kennedy, David M. 2010. Deterrence and Crime Prevention. Reconsidering the Prospect of Sanction, 220p. London/New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kleiman, Mark. 2009. When Brute Force Fails, 256p. Princeton/London: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Leeson, Peter L. 2011. The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates, 288p. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2014. Anarchy Unbound: Why Self-Governance Works Better Than You Think, 270p. New York/Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Libecap, Gary D. 1989. Contracting for Property Rights, 132p. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lima, Renato Sérgio de, José Luiz Ratton, and Rodrigo Ghiringhelli de Azevedo, eds. 2014. Crime, Polícia e Justiça no Brasil, 522p. São Paulo: Contexto.

    Google Scholar 

  • LSE Expert Group on the Economics of Drug Policy. 2014. Ending the Drug Wars, 81p. London: LSE/IDEAS. http://www.lse.ac.uk/IDEAS/publications/reports/EndingDrugWars.aspx. Accessed 05 Aug 2015.

  • Miron, Jeffrey A. 1999. Violence and the U.S. Prohibitions of Drug and Alcohol. American Law and Economics Review, Oxford University Press 1 (1–2): 78–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2004. Drug War Crimes: The Consequences of Prohibition. 130p. Oakland: Independent Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • OSF. 2017. Crack: Reduzir Danos. Lições Brasileiras de Saúde, Segurança e Cidadania, 45p. New York: Open Society Foundations.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ostrom, Elinor. 1990. Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action, 290p. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2005. Understanding Institutional Diversity, 376p. Princeton/London: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Owens, Emily Greene. 2011. Are Underground Markets Really More Violent? Evidence from Early 20th Century America. American Law and Economics Review 13 (1): 1–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reuter, Peter. 2009. Systemic Violence in Drug Markets. Crime, Law & Social Change 52(3): 275–284. September.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skarbek, David. 2014. The Social Order of the Underworld, 240p. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Snyder, Richard, and Angelica Duran-Martinez. 2009. Does Illegality Breed Violence? Drug Trafficking and State-Sponsored Protection Rackets. Crime, Law and Social Change 52 (3): 253–273.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soares, Rodrigo R., and Joana Naritomi. 2010. Understanding High Crime Rates in Latin America. The Role of Social and Policy Factors. Chap. 1 in The Economics of Crime. Lessons for and from Latin America, ed, Rafael Di Tella, Sebastian Edwards, and Ernesto Schargrodsky, 19–63. Chicago/London: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Bronkhorst, Bernice, and Gabriel Demombynes. 2010. Crime and Violence in Central America, vol. II, 167p. Washington, DC: The World Bank. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTLAC/Resources/Eng_Volume_II_Crime_and_Violence_Central_America.pdf.

  • Velasco, José L. 2012. Insurgency, Authoritarianism, and Drug Trafficking in Mexico’s Democratization, 256p. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, Max. 1978. Economy and Society. An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. Vol. 1, 640p. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Werb, D., G. Rowell, G. Guyatt, T. Kerr, J. Montaner, and E. Wood. 2011. Effect of Drug Law Enforcement on Drug Market Violence: A Systematic Review. International Journal of Drug Policy 22: 87–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willis, Graham Denyer. 2015. The Killing Consensus: Police, Organized Crime, and the Regulation of Life and Death in Urban Brazil, 216p. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Jean Daudelin

  2. Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

    José Luiz Ratton

Authors
  1. Jean Daudelin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. José Luiz Ratton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Daudelin, J., Ratton, J.L. (2018). Introduction: Drug Markets and Violence in Recife, Brazil. In: Illegal Markets, Violence, and Inequality. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76249-4_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76249-4_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76248-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-76249-4

  • eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation