Salvadoran gangs and their criminal behavior: Foresight on their organizational structures and territorial expansion for the next decade, 2015-2025

Abstract

This analysis will address gangs as its focal point, including who their members are, their level of organization or their structure, the illegal activities they carry out, and their territorial control. Therefore, a Foresight with three estimated scenarios for the next decade shall be developed, as this situation currently represents the biggest challenge to the country´s public safety.
But, how is the impact of gangs in a society measured? Some parameters might be: Measuring their extent and territorial expansion, their criminal activities in total, their willingness to break the established social order, their ability to displace and substitute state control, and their capability of ending the life of human beings.
Likewise, this analysis shall shed light on the impact that external or internal organized crime groups have in order to influence these trends, as well as the policies and resources that the State has used to prevent or lessen the realization of such trends among the gangs. Furthermore, it will include a study of possible measures to be implemented to counter these criminal trends.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5377/rpsp.v4i2.1762