Several countries of Latin American have been engaged in an extremely violent war against drugs, against gangs and organized crime. Latin American governments and elites have implemented a series of questionable institutional reforms to the justice and legal systems in their failing attempt to enact this "war". This implementation has been corroded by the inability of the same elites to perform and respect these regulations, because there is strong corruption and impunity among them. Their behavior has strong impact in the expectations of citizens, in their perception of impunity, corruption and values about democracy and the rule of law. In the middle of these battles, youth population has been targeted or blamed for major crimes that are actually committed by different armed legal actors. One issue is the assumed increasing involvement of youth in these illegal activities. Another issue is the juvenile their socialization on legal norms, their consent and recognition.
Young people; perception; justice; laws and police
