Crime and Punishment in Latin America

“This volume offers a collection of essays dealing with the multiple aspects of the relationship between ordinary people and the law in Latin America. Building on trends such as cultural history, subaltern studies, and new political trends, the contributors bring to the forefront topics of scholarly debate about the region’s past and present.” - Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education

"A very useful introduction. . . . This volume offers many insights into comparative histories with other formative legal orders. . .. A real milestone for historians wanting to take legal institutions seriously without portraying them in some of the rigid ways they once were." - Jeremy Adelman , Journal of Latin American Studies

"[A]n innovative examination of popular and state legal institutions throughout modern Latin America. . . . [A] strong contribution to the growing field of Latin American legal history."

- Jonathan D. Ablard , New Mexico Historical Review

"[C]ertain to be useful in establishing this emergent area of study. Its thoughtful, compelling and often clever empirical inquiries into the intersection of law and society across Latin American history enable the reader to see not only themes of broad theoretical interest in law and society, but also the history of this region, in a new light." - Angelina Snodgrass Godoy, Punishment and Society

"Fascinating. . . . Valuable for Latin Americanists precisely because the editors and authors succeed in making connections across time and space, and it is an important resource for nonspecialists looking for comparative examples and new perspectives to bring to their studies." - Joan Bristol , Journal of Social History

"Rich, and for the most part, highly readable texts for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses in Latin American history and anthropology." - Deborah Poole , American Historical Review

"The essays are very accessible to nonspecialists in either Latin American law or the contemporary nuances of cultural studies." - Michael Monteón , History: Reviews of New Books

"Ricardo D. Salvatore and Carlos Aguirre begin the volume with a brisk synthesis of Latin American legal history and a brief agenda for future research. This is a model essay that any graduate student preparing for comprehensive exams should appreciate for its broad yet concise critical assessment of a significant field. . . . [Crime and Punishment] will be a significant point of departure in research in the field of legal history for some time to come." - Peter Beattie , H-LatAm, H-Net Reviews

"These authors allow us a generally sensitive look at both the larger movements and at the individuals and communities negotiating their lives and fates."
- Malcolm Greenshields , Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies

"This fine collection of 15 essays plus a preface well illustrates the vigor and variety of newer work in the field. . . . [I]ntelligent. . . . [T]hese essays remind us that a healthy dose of sweat equity in the archives bolstered by reading beyond one’s narrow focus produce felicitous outcomes."
- Richard W. Slatta , Hispanic American Historical Review

"This volume's primary contribution is . . . a broadly comparative perspective on the ascendance of 'modernizing' liberal ideologies. Perhaps most importantly, these essays expose the disunity and incompleteness of Latin America's liberal project, as well as the marked divergence between the political liberalism of consolidating Latin American and the market liberalism of the United States and Britain." - Jocelyn Olcott , EIAL

“This collection makes clear, through well-researched case studies and specific examples, that the law and legal institutions have had a more important role in maintaining the social order and the regulation of contention in Latin American history than previously revealed. As such, it will have a crucial impact on this and other fields.” - Thomas H. Holloway, University of California, Davis

“This volume marks a breakthrough in the historical study of criminality, social deviance, punishment, and legal systems in Latin America. The contributions are empirically deep, interestingly theorized, and brought together by a very sophisticated introductory essay. The essays immerse us in such vital themes as modernization and the law, the medicalization of crime and deviance, and the modes by which ordinary people faced the state and its institutions—in the broad issue of legal culture, in other words.” - Eric Van Young, University of California, San Diego