After the Gang

Desistance, Violence and Occupational Options in Nicaragua

Bibliographic Data

ID3365306
AuthorsD Rodgers (0000-0001-8957-4796, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume55
Issue4
Pages679-704
Publication date2023-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Latin American Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-216X • E-ISSN: 1469-767X
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0022216x23000718
OpenAlexW4387368209
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited19

Gangs are widely considered major contributors to the high levels of violence afflicting Latin America, including in particular Central America. At the same time, however, the vast majority of individuals who join a gang will also leave it and, it is assumed, become less violent. Having said this, the mechanisms underlying this 'desistance' process are not well understood, and nor are the determinants of individuals' post-gang trajectories, partly because gang desistance tends to be seen as an event rather than a process. Drawing on long-term ethnographic research carried out in barrio Luis Fanor Hernández, a poor neighbourhood in Nicaragua's capital city Managua, and more specifically a set of 'archetypal' gang member life histories that illustrate the occupational options open to former gang members, this article offers a longitudinal perspective on desistance and its consequences, with specific reference to the determinants of individuals' continued engagement with violence (or not

Criminology · Ethnography · Latin Americans · Life course approach · Neighbourhood (mathematics) · Perspective (graphical) · Political science · Sociology · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology

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