Police agents stand guard during a special operation inside Pavoncito jail, Fraijanes, Guatemala, Sept. 3, 2014 (AP photo by Moises Castillo).

Of the 10 countries with the highest homicide rates, eight are in Latin America and the Caribbean. The region is likewise home to 34 of the world’s 50 most violent cities. The social and economic impacts of those levels of crime are massive, and, as a result, governments and private sectors in Mexico, Brazil and, more recently, Guatemala and El Salvador are looking for new solutions. They have sought advice from two familiar sources in American policing: former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and current New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton. Giuliani, and even more so Bratton, are […]

Thousands of members of Turkey’s Bar Associations march to the Parliament with a banner that reads “The state of law, not state of police!” in Ankara, Turkey, Feb. 16, 2015 (AP photo by Burhan Ozbilici).

Two parliamentary brawls in as many days, filibusters, street demonstrations and a courthouse sit-in have characterized the controversy over a new domestic security bill that Turkish legislators look set to make law. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) insists the security “package” is up to European Union standards and needed urgently. Critics argue it will create the legal conditions for a police state. They point in particular to two immediate concerns. First, Kurdish national leaders have warned the law could scuttle the government’s high-stakes peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to end the three-decade insurgency that has […]