Join for the special in-person only launch of the 2024–25 (In)Justice Series on Just Policing! 

International social scientist Elizabeth G. Kennedy and Patrick McNamara, Associate Professor of Latin American History and Human Rights at the University of Minnesota, set the stage for this year’s series on Just Policing with an in-depth exploration on how the complex landscape of policing in El Salvador resonates on a global scale. As of January 2024, El Salvador has the highest rate of incarceration in the world—more than three times higher than the United States, which had maintained the highest incarceration rate for most of the past three decades. Kennedy and McNamara will discuss how rampant gang violence led to the suspension of constitutional rights in El Salvador under a "state of emergency," and how El Salvador has since become a model for other leaders internationally—including in the United States—who face similar threats of violence and instability caused by political corruption and organized crime.

Image: The Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 11, 2023; via Secretaria de Prensa de la Presidencia.