Monitor of Lethal Force in Latin America and the Caribbean. A Analysis of Killings by Police and Army
December 09th, 2025
The volume Monitor of Lethal Force in Latin America and the Caribbean. An Analysis of Killings by Police and Army Officers, edited by Ignacio Cano, Catalina Pérez-Correa, and Carlos Silva and published by Springer, examines the use and abuse of lethal force in eight Latin American countries (Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, El Salvador, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Colombia, and Chile), with the aim of addressing the persistent lack of information and independent investigations on the topic. The book also seeks to understand and measure the deployment of lethal force by police forces through two groups of indicators: the first measures the use of lethal force, while the second – the lethality index – captures its abuse.
Beyond disseminating a monitoring methodology for assessing the use and misuse of force in a comparative and international perspective, the volume highlights the seriousness of violations related to the employment of lethal force in Latin America and the Caribbean, underscoring how the absence of effective accountability mechanisms fosters the recurrence of abuses and contributes to the reproduction of state violence against the civilian population.
The book can be freely downloaded by clicking here.