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Breaking the Cycle of Violence: Putting an End to Vigilantism
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When residents of one of the largest colonias (impoverished neighborhoods) in Tegucigalpa responded to an AJS-supported survey carried out in August 2005 on what the biggest worries in their lives were, only health outranked violent crime, and nearly 93% said they felt "not very safe," "unsafe," or "extremely unsafe." Results revealed that most of those surveyed also had little trust in the police or the Honduran justice system. The result of this dynamic—high crime rates and little or no trust in authorities' ability or will to protect citizens—results in a two-pronged tragedy that plays itself out over and over across Honduras: Whole communities remain silent about the waves of violence that are wracking them, and community members become ever more isolated from one another as they shut themselves away behind barred doors and windows. Eventually, some members of the community decide to take "justice" into their own hands, often through violent reprisals against anyone merely suspected of being a thief, gang member, or ne'er-do-well. These vigilantes often enjoy tacit or even outright support from their communities. But while vigilante justice may reduce the levels of gang activity and common crime for brief periods, the underlying message it communicates is that violence is power, that violence is a legitimate way to achieve one's goals. Living in an atmosphere of violent deaths, whether of "criminals" or everyday citizens, has untold effects on community members, especially children and young people. And vigilante groups sometimes find that, with the previous bosses of the neighborhood conveniently out of the way, the temptation to start robbing and extorting themselves is too much to resist. Over the last year, the AJS-supported Peace & Justice Project has begun breaking this cycle of violence in one neighborhood by helping Honduran authorities identify, arrest, try, convict, and imprison a group of vigilantes charged with murdering at least 8 boys who had ties with a local gang or were witnesses to other murders carried out by the vigilante group. Thanks to these AJS-supported efforts, the vigilante group's ringleader was sentenced to 25 years for tying up 12-year-old Freddy,* leading him to a soccer field, and shooting him in the head; three other members of the group have been convicted of shooting 11-year-old Richard* to death because he had witnessed them killing yet another young man. Other members of the group are awaiting trial for further murders. Thanks to AJS's support, both people in the community where the vigilante group operated and Honduran authorities have been shown that the justice system can work right, and that violence, no matter who it is committed against, does not pay. Please pray that through AJS-supported efforts, peace will truly flow like a river to fill Honduras' poor urban neighborhoods. Read about how AJS is also breaking the cycle of violence through a Youth Transformation project. *Names changed for privacy and security. |
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Laura's Story: From Trauma to Hope But Laura did report the crime committed against her, and thanks to her bravery, and to the AJS-supported Peace & Justice Project, all three of her attackers have been arrested and are awaiting trial. read more |
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Historic Conviction in Juvenile Inmates Torture Case One October day in 2004, four staff members of a government institution whose goal is supposedly to rehabilitate troubled youths beat several juvenile inmates with wooden clubs. They beat them so severely that one inmate, who was struck on the hands, subsequently lost all his fingernails, and another suffered fractures in his hands and one of his arms. If the AJS-supported Peace & Justice Project had not intervened, this horrible beating would have gone unpunished. read more |
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Increasing Security in a Precarious Place Gerson [pronounced "Hair-son"]'s house is built on one of the few relatively flat pieces of ground in the steep, maze-like neighborhood of Villa Cristina in Tegucigalpa. But until recently, living there was in some ways just as precarious as living in nearby houses that keep an unsteady grip on sheer cliff faces. The reason: Gerson had no legal title to the lot his home is built on. read more | watch video |
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"Tami" |
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"María" |
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Tomasa Turcios and other Security Guards |
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Bienvenida Carías |
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Yazmin Zuniga Things were fine for the first year and a half, but when a new manager took over Yazmin's job turned into a nightmare... read more |
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Felipa Mejia Felipa's anxiety was so bad that she had stopped eating, and was in danger of starving herself to death. Thankfully, a friend stepped in and helped her get help at the Gideon counseling center in Nueva Suyapa...read more |
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Eufemia Cruz Eufemia is every bit as persistent as the woman in Jesus' Parable of the Persistent Widow...read more |
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The Association for a More Just Society (AJS) oversees and funds initiatives carried out by Honduran partner organization la Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa (ASJ). AJS is a US-registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so all donations to AJS are tax-deductible for US taxpayers.
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