Introduction: Policing and State Crime: A View from the South

This introductory chapter will explain how contributors to Policing and State Crime in the Americas build on the burgeoning traditions of southern and postcolonial theory in sociology and criminology. This edited volume makes three key contributions. We aim to (1) problematize dominant criminological thought by critically examining an often ignored topic such as state crime, (2) highlight the enduring linkages between South, Central, and North America and better understand how Southern populations experience policing and state crime within the United States, and (3) draw on Latin American experts in the South and the lived experiences of Latin American and indigenous populations to triangulate and contextualize social problems that pervade the Western Hemisphere.