El Salvador’s Iron Fist on Crime Will Crush Latin American Democracy
Instead of resorting to mass incarceration, policymakers need to fight crime in ways that uphold justice, transparency and accountability.
El Salvador’s false path to salvation.
Photographer: Handout/Presidencia El Salvador/Getty Images South America
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How about putting more than 1% of your population in prison?
That’s how El Salvador is going about fighting crime. In May of last year, 71,000 Salvadorans were held behind bars, according to the US State Department, up from 39,600 in 2018.