This new research project examines the adoption of tough-on-crime policies in Uruguay in the last decade, and how these policies have increased state violence in low-income communities in Montevideo.

Much of the literature on the adoption of tough-on-crime policies in Latin America highlights the surge of right-wing populist governments as central to the rise of these policies. However, in the case of Uruguay, this shift was produced by a social-democratic government, which had strong electoral support before the adoption of this approach.

This research can shed light into the complex ways in which tough-on-crime policies are adopted, the process by which U.S-based policing strategies are imported, and the development of pacification strategies in low-income communities.

I have recently published an article based on this research in Criminological Encounters​.