The recent election in El Salvador provides an opportunity for a mini-lesson or bellringer current events discussion.
Ask students what they know about El Salvador. They might mention bitcoin - it is worth noting that the country's crypto project hasn't worked out as planned. This graph on homicide rates can be projected.
Project the results of the recent elections. Ask students why Bukele might have won so decisively. Share basic information about Bukele including erosion of democracy and dismantling of El Salvador's checks and balances and independent media. He calls himself the "world's coolest dictator".
This Economist video on the war on crime in El Salvador effectively plays out some of the key concerns of different groups in the run-up to the election including human rights abuses but also why Bukele is genuinely fairly popular.
For discussion:
Could the policies of Bukele (e.g. arbitrary arrests, detainment for years without a trial, group trials, etc...) ever be justified?
Project this graph:
Ask students if they notice anything unusual based on what they've heard - they can be guided towards realising that the crime rates were, in fact, going down well before Bukele came into power in 2019 following the introduction of prevention programs and rehabilitation strategies.
Further discussion
What could be some of the unintended effects of Bukele's policies? If students don't bring it up, they can be steered towards thinking about the socialisation effects of prisons in creating hardened criminals. The workforce loss is also relevant. And so too the likelihood that Bukele's authoritarian style of rule will become entrenched in a similar way to how it has in other Latin American countries.
What are alternative approaches to addressing crime? Here it might also be worth highlighting how Norwegian and German criminal justice systems have brought violent crime and recidivism rates down via a focus on rehabilitation.
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