The state of public security in Chile

Abstract

This article develops, from a critical perspective, a detailed ‘state of art’ about the subject of citizens’ security subject in Chile. It datails how this problem is more an insecurity perception than a real experience, installed in people through the mass media and legitimated by experts interested in assuring the support for their services in the emergent‘security market’. It is stated in this essay that the situation of citizens’ security in Chile is the best in Latin America, superior to that in the United States and similar to what prevails in Europe. However, the surveys indicate that people feel increasingly fearful of delinquency actions, specially because the delinquents are young men who use violence.