Research Catalog

Details

Additional authors

1. Guzmán, Diana Esther
2. Parra Norato, Jorge A.
3. Centro de Estudios de Derecho, Justicia y Sociedad (Bogotá, Colombia)
4. Colectivo de Estudios Drogas y Derecho.

Description

1. 53 pages : illustrations; 24 cm.

Summary

1. Over the past decades, Latin America has seen penalties for drug crimes--even for low-level selling--skyrocket. In many Latin American countries, nonviolent drug offenses receive significantly longer sentences than many violent crimes such as homicide and rape. A new study of criminal legislation explores this phenomenon in seven Latin American countries (Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia, and Argentina). The study was conducted by Dejusticia, as part of the Colectivo de Estudios Drogas y Derechos, with support from the Washington Office on Latin America and the Open Society Foundations. It found that penalties for all seven studies countries have increased 521 percent since 1950. The report reveals that the average maximum sentence for a drug offense rose from 34 years in prison in 1950 to 141 years today and in three of the seven countries surveyed, drug trafficking was subject to longer maximum and minimum penalties than murder. The report states: When comparing murder with drug trafficking, the logical assumption is that penalties for murder must be higher because it results in concrete harm to a very important protected human right--human life and personal integrity--while trafficking does not, in and of itself, lead to such a harm.

Series statement

1. Dejusticia working paper ; 1

Uniform title

1. Dejusticia working paper ; 1.

Subject

1. Drug control
2. Proportionality in law
3. Drug control > Latin America
4. Proportionality in law > Latin America
5. Drugs > Law and legislation > Latin America
6. Narcotic laws > Latin America
7. Latin America
8. Drugs of abuse > Law and legislation > Latin America

Owning institution

1. Columbia University Libraries

Note

1. "CEDD, Colectivo de Estudios Drogas y Derecho."
2. "This investigation was made possible by the Open Society Foundations."--Title page verso.
3. Translated from the Spanish by Barbara Fraser.
4. Dejusticia: Center for Law, Justice and Society.
5. Washington Office on Latin America.

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references (pages 48-49).