Rising Violence in Panama Calls for a Comprehensive Approach

To develop policies that not only reduce homicides but also transform the social circumstances that produce them, it is necessary to integrate these perspectives into a comprehensive plan. Research centers and academia, including OCAS itself, have the capacity to provide scientific evidence to guide political decisions, thus preventing improvisation and ensuring that interventions are based on verifiable data. OCAS maintains that the civil sector is a fundamental actor for the creation and transformation of security. Only in this way can violence be reduced sustainably and restore citizens' trust in their institutions. Ultimately, homicides are the most evident manifestation of a deeper structural problem. Incorporating civil society into the design and implementation of policies makes actions more legitimate and ensures that solutions are tailored to the genuine needs of the people. It is essential that there is trust between the citizenry and the government. These figures are a worrying sign of the state of public safety and indicate the need for more systematic and sustainable responses from the State. OCAS emphasizes that homicidal violence should not be conceived solely as a matter of public or police order. Some of the most prominent are: • Economic and social disparity, which causes exclusion and a lack of opportunities. • The limited capacity of the judicial and police systems, which reveals institutional fragility. • The lack of educational and cultural policies that promote peaceful conflict resolution. • The existence of organized criminal groups that fill the gaps left by the State in vulnerable communities. Therefore, violence is an indication of deeper structural problems that need to be addressed from an interdisciplinary perspective. OCAS points out that, despite the severity of the figures, no sustained prevention programs or security strategies have been detected. The measures taken by the government seem reactive and fragmented, focusing on the immediate police response, but they lack a holistic approach that includes prevention, rehabilitation, and reintegration into society. This lack of defined projects gives an impression of institutional weakness and improvisation. The lack of a clear roadmap generates distrust and a perception of abandonment among the citizenry, which contributes to further weakening the legitimacy of the Panamanian State. OCAS asserts that the only way to sustainably address homicidal violence is through comprehensive and interdisciplinary plans that include all participants in social control: • Formal: State entities such as the police, the judicial system, and the ministries of labor, health, and education. • Informal: community groups, neighborhood leaders, churches, youth associations, the media, and families. Citizen security must be seen as an extensive social process that integrates policies of justice, education, culture, employment, and prevention. For this reason, the active participation of civil society must be considered a strategic resource. The increase in homicides in the first year and a half of the government is a warning signal that cannot be ignored. In the face of this scenario, OCAS suggests the creation of comprehensive and interdisciplinary plans that include all actors in social control, whether formal or informal. Citizen security can no longer be considered solely a police issue. The response must also be structural: a serious, sustained, and participatory political commitment supported by academic and social evidence, placing human dignity and life at the core of public policies. Let's work together for peace and peaceful coexistence! Some examples of specific actions are: • Labor reintegration programs for at-risk youth. • Pedagogical campaigns on peaceful conflict resolution. • Sports and cultural areas that promote non-violent leisure options. • Consolidation of community-level mediation processes. Interdisciplinarity as a key method OCAS's analysis highlights that violence is a complex phenomenon that requires the participation of various disciplines: criminology, sociology, psychology, economics, education, and public health. Without prevention, there will be no effective reduction of crime and violence. By Luis Carlos Samudio G. Lawyer, teacher, and mediator. In the first year of the current government in Panama, 560 homicides were registered. In the following semester, 312 more cases were added to that list, revealing a total of 872 violent deaths in the year and a half that has passed. The Academic and Social Criminological Observatory (OCAS) has documented and analyzed the figures from the Public Ministry. The lack of defined projects, plans, and programs is an indicator of institutional weakness that worsens the security crisis. It needs a comprehensive perspective that integrates culture, education, justice, prevention, and work. If there isn't one, any plan can fail.