‘Paz,progreso, justicia y honradez’: law and citizenship in Alta Verapaz during the regime of Jorge Ubico⋆

Prospects for the ‘rule of law’ in the present are shaped by historical experiences of law by elite and non‐elite groups in the past. In this article I explore changing conceptions and practices of‘rights’and‘justice’as expressed in the legal and administrative encounters between indigenous people and state officials during the regime of Jorge Ubico (1931–1944). The extension of the state's coercive and administrative apparatus to remote rural areas, new legislation and changes in public administration transformed relations between working people, coffee fmqueros and the state in Guatemala. This implied new obligations and exactions for Mayans, but also provided them with new opportunities to contest and negotiate their conditions. Indigenous people strategically engaged with the law to contest the terms of their domination by elite actors and to mediate conflicts between themselves. As state ideologies of‘moral behaviour’led to increasing regulation of the private sphere, this was particularly important in the case of conflicts over gendered rights and obligations. Although formally excluded from the category of citizens, indigenous people used the official language and discourse of citizenship to further their claims, in turn reshaping Guatemalan nation‐state.     

The state in Africa: Implications for democratic reform

Significant changes in the global political climate during the late 1980s sparked off dramatic enthusiasm for democratisation which swept across much of the developing world. Previously authoritarian governments, through the combined pressures from both external and internal arenas began to topple, to be replaced by regimes organised along liberal democratic lines. Internally, the public reacted to the corrupt and repressive tactics of a predatory patron-client state system which had continually failed to operate in accordance with societal needs, with street riots, strikes and other outbursts of discontent as a result. Such events played a major part in introducing multi-party politics by demanding accountability from those in power. Such dramatic changes were also a product of marked changes in the external environment, with governments no longer able to rely on uncritical donor support to secure a bulwark against communism. Furthermore, excessive state repression and intervention, in terms of human rights violations were no longer deemed to be acceptable behaviour. This is mirrored by a clear policy change as evidenced by the British Government's White Paper (1997) which clearly outlines the need for a more enabling, effective and strengthened role for governments in the developing world which enables them to become more dedicated to promoting the interests of the most disadvantaged sectors of society. Only governments which demonstrate a commitment to good governance may receive funding and not adhering to these policy dictates could have drastic consequences in terms of future levels and types of support. This article charts the issues concerning the new role for the state and its implications for achieving sustainable, participatory democracies in the context of the state in Africa. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A community paradigm of organized crime

This article reviews the available empirical research on organized crime and suggests that an important dimension of that research is the close symbiosis between organized crime groups and the communities in which they operate. As such, it is hypothesized that the concept of community may be important to explaining the persistence and durability of organized crime. A community model proposed by Roland Warren, which seeks to integrate much of the sociological literature on the community, and which delineates the basic functions of the community is presented as a means of organizing the available date about organized crime and explaining organized crime’s functional and latent aspects.     

Crime reduction outcomes associated with the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program

During the 1990s, the federal government began a program to reimburse local jails and prisons for the housing of alien repeat offenders. In this first ever nationwide assessment, crime reduction outcomes of the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) were tested using twelve years of panel data from 10,339 jurisdictions. Results indicated that SCAAP funds were associated with reductions in robbery, burglary, and other UCR Part I offenses while controlling for changes in policing activity, receipt of other grants, and crime growth trends. The data analyzed also suggested that crime reduction outcomes were associated with COPS Hiring, COPS MORE, and Local Law Enforcement Block Grants. Although the specific mechanisms of SCAAP crime reduction remain unclear, these results were consistent with increases in jail capacity and improved coordination with immigration officials.     

Entering the Circle: The Praxis of Arts in Corrections

Abstract

When exiles create for themselves a new world in which to live and then construct that world in language, a poet, a writer, or intellectual may emerge. When the imagined world takes physical form and comes to exist in two, three, or four dimensions, it may be represented as the work of a performer or as that of a visual artist. This work creates a demilitarized zone, a place of safety, which defies old-world colonialization and presents a distillation of all the complexities within which one lives. Or, it may present a world beyond complexity that has imagined itself into synthesis. (Becker 1996, 113)