The new criminal policy against gangs in El Salvador

Abstract

PROBLEM: This article studies the problem of the "mano dura"
Criminal policies that have been established in El Salvador in order
to eradicate the problem of youth gangs. OBJECTIVE: To
demonstrate that such policies are doomed to failure because
they do not focus on the roots of this type of criminality, which is
nourished by unresolved social problems such as economic
exclusion and massive family disintegration. METHOD: The
analytical method was used to identify the various problematic
elements that lie behind state policies. RESULT: It is shown that
Bukele's program is destined to fail because, in general, "mano
dura" policies never achieve the expected results because they
do not address the bases of the problems they want to eradicate.
CONCLUSION: Bukele's repressive policies are not justified
because it is only a matter of time before they fail due to their
incongruence with the social roots of criminality. Heavy-handed
responses will only aggravate the problems of violence and
ungovernability, because the levels of social and economic
exclusion appear to be steadily increasing. Criminal policies
should be developed with a higher level of complexity that
focuses on dismantling the factors that lead a large part of the
youth to become involved in this type of activities.