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Data collection in seven Latin American countries

Sveinung Sandberg and his colleagues are conducting a research project on the role that family, employment, culture and the state play in criminal life-courses. 20 researchers have been conducting 1200 interviews involving prison inmates in Mexico, Brazil, Honduras, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Colombia.

Outdoor area inside a prison with marked tennis courts on the ground and football goals. Several prisoners in various activities.

A prison in Chile with a street-like atmosphere including music from loudspeakers, football matches, exercise, walking and shouting. – They create prison communities that are not so different from life on the outside, Sandberg explains. Photo: Private.

Crime levels in Latin America have risen sharply over the past two decades. The reason is the growth and brutalisation of drug trafficking, the increase in criminal gangs, poverty, and loss of trust in the authorities that fail to control territories and provide basic welfare benefits. In the ‘Crime in Latin America’ (CRIMLA) research project, Professor Sveinung Sandberg and his colleagues attempt to understand the role that family, employment, culture and the state play in criminal life-courses. 

– We look in particular at how the role of the state, but also culture, religion, family and working life, affect criminal careers. Prison conditions as well as social life in prison are also important in the project. The project is rooted in both life-course criminology and narrative criminology (link), and combines a focus on life-courses with an interest in how these are conveyed and contribute to creating identities through individual life stories, explains Sandberg.

Groundbreaking research on crime in Latin America

In 2010, Professor Sveinung Sandberg conducted a research project in which he interviewed prison inmates in Norway focusing on the inmates’ life stories. Later, he worked in Mexico together with local researchers on a study of incarcerated mothers (link) and fathers (link). These studies whetted the researcher’s appetite and are the direct incentive for the CRIMLA research project. 

– We wanted to do this on a larger scale and in several different countries – and with a much broader focus, says Sandberg. 

Several prisoners gathered in the common areas of a three-story prison. In the background you can see a lot of clothes and private belongings that are hung up to dry on all floors.
Prison in Colombia. Prisons in all the countries were often overcrowded and plagued by corruption and poor sanitation, but there was also an intense social and economic life. Many inmates engaged in games, sports, discussions, and had friendships and love lives. There were also small businesses selling food and other necessities. Photo: Private

The project is funded by the Research Council of Norway and is part of the programme for ground-breaking research. The aim of the programme is renewal and development in research that can help push forward the international research front. 

– When we applied for funding, many people recommended creating a link to Norway. They thought it would be a strategic move that would make it easier to get support. The problem was that it was difficult to find natural or appropriate ways to do it. In this region, crime is by far the biggest security, economic and political problem. At the same time, very little research has been conducted on crime in Latin America, especially not with primary data such as interviews. We therefore believed that there was sufficient grounds to receive support without a link to crime in Norway. Fortunately, the Research Council of Norway agreed, says Sandberg.

There are three researchers from the Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law working on this project. In addition to Sandberg, researcher David R. Goyes and postdoctoral fellow Martín Hernán Di Marco are also participating.

Inmates’ life stories

The project collaborates with UNAM University in Mexico and more than 20 researchers are involved. The researchers will conduct 400 interviews with prison inmates, and all participants will be interviewed three times. There will be around 1200 interviews in total.

– We do this to create trust, continuity in the relationship between participants and interviewers, and to make sure that we get all the details and nuances from their life stories, Sandberg explains.

A conditional staircase that goes around a column whose edges are decorated with various paintings of flowers, plants, scales, prison rooms, writing and hands.
Art made by Mexican prison inmates. The prisoners were each given a square space and the freedom to do whatever they wanted regarding these murals. In the interviews with the prison inmates, it was clear that the paintings tell stories that are important to them. Photo: Private.

Sandberg and his colleagues are well underway with the fieldwork, and their findings so far are interesting. The project will run for four years, but Sandberg expects to get data that the researchers can work with long after this period has passed. The size of this qualitative data set and the scope of the project are unique in a Latin American context. 

– First of all, we are impressed with the trust we receive from the prison inmates. They really tell us about everything, and the interviews are full of emotions, but also humour and stories about everyday life in prison. Often, there are tragic life stories, poverty, early marginalisation, drug problems, corrupt and underfunded prisons, and disintegrating societies, but we also see survival strategies, glimpses of courage and attempts to find a way out of hopelessness. We will be dependent on working with many experts and researchers for a number of years in order to be able to publish quality findings on the various interview topics, says Sandberg.

The entrance to a prison with high fences and barbed wire.
Viewed from the outside, prisons are surprisingly similar throughout the world despite great inequalities between societies. Photo: Private.

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By Maud Hol
Published Mar. 8, 2023 10:59 AM - Last modified May 8, 2024 1:27 PM
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