Kellogg Visiting Fellow Rebecca Hanson recently authored the article “The Murder rate in Venezuela has fallen – but both Trump and Maduro are wrong about why.”
The Venezuelan government under President Maduro has gained attention and increased scrutiny for its relationships with criminal gangs.
With the fall of crime rates in Venezuela, Conservative media outlets in the US and President Trump have brought forth accusations of gang members being sent to the US at the orders of President Maduro.
Although President Maduro claims that this decline is due to execution of lethal police raids, Hanson argues that the falling homicide rates are instead likely the result of Maduro’s policies leading to the consolidation of criminal groups themselves.
Hanson is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law, as well as the Center for Latin American Studies, at the University of Florida. Her work is centered around policing, armed violence, and illicit markets in the Global South.