Second Competition of Best Crime Prevention Practices in Latin America and the Caribbean

Adriana Mejía, Director of the Public Security Department of Organization of American States
Finance and International Relations graduate, Adriana Mejía has developed most part of her professional career in public service, like Economic Development Department and the Foreign Commerce Bank of Colombia. She was also Director of Citizen Participation of Bogota Finance Office and General Director of District Institute of Culture and Tourism in the Bogota City Hall. She has been part of the Colombian Presidential Cabinet, first as Vice Minister of Culture and the as Vice Minister of Multilateral Affairs of Foreign Affairs Department. Mejía is also experienced in private sphere, academy and journalism. Nowadays, she is Director of the Public Security Department of the Organization of American States.

Ana Olivera, Government of Montevideo, Uruguay
High School Teacher. She worked in many areas at Montevideo City Hall, she was also Undersecretary of Social Development Department of Uruguay, member of National Drugs Council and Coordinating Committee of Social Safety and President of Honorary Consulting Council for Children and Youth. Nowadays, Olivera is Governor of Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital.

Anthanas Mockus, Corporación Visionarios por Colombia (Corporation Visionaries for Colombia)
Philosophy MA from Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Mathematic and Philosophy licensed from Dijon University, Honoris Causa Doctorate from Paris XIII University and Universdad Nacional de Colombia. Mockus was Bogota major twice and he’s now president of Corporación Visionarios por Colombia (Corporation Visionaries for Colombia).

Anthony Harriot , West Indies University
Political Sociology teacher at Universidad de las Antillas. Nowadays, he is Director of Institute for Criminal Justice and Security at West Indies University and Director of the Government Department at Mona Campus, Universidad de las Antillas. His research and publications has been centered in common violence topics and police reform in Caribbean societies, winning various academic awards. In his professional career he has been member of international, regional and national groups of experts, including Scientific and Professional Advisory Council of the United Nations and CARICOM’s crime working group. He has been member of different professional organizations, like Academia de Ciencias Penales de Justicia (Criminal Sciences of Justice Academy) and Sociedad Latina de Criminología (Latin Society for Criminology).

Elkin Velásquez UN-HABITAT
Geography PhD, Public Management graduate from ENA-École Nationale d’Administration in France, expert in territorial planning and policies, and Geography DEA from Grenoble University, France. She’s also Engineer from School of Mines – Universidad Nacional, Medellín. She has developed her professional activities in many Universities and Institutes in Latin America and Europe, researching on government, public safety, risk analysis, politics and territorial prospective. She’s also civil safety consultant at European Union, UNDP and UN-HABITAT, Velásquez also coordinated the Libro Blanco de la Seguridad Ciudadana y la Convivencia de Bogotá (White Book of Public Safety and Coexistence in Bogota).

Estela – Maris Deon, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime UNODC
English and Literature teacher at Universidad Católica de Campinas, Brazil. Environment and Development graduate, MA in Social Sciences from The Open University, United Kingdom. Since 1989, she works at United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Since 2008 official member of Crime Prevention Program and focal point for crime prevention and crime justice in the Justice Section of UNODC in Vienna, Austria.

Gustavo Beliz, Inter-American Development Bank
Lawyer form Universidad de Buenos Aires and journalist. He took university courses at the London School of Economics, UK, with a British Council scholarship for Globalization and State Reform research. Beliz has worked in public and academic spheres in Argentina and he’s now Inter-American Development Bank consultant.

Heloisa Griggs, Latin America Program at the Open Society Institute
History and International Studies graduate from Yale University Law School. She was Director of Student Affairs at Lowenstein International Human Rights. She’s expert in International Human Rights and has developed a wide experience working in public and private spheres and NGO in the United States. She’s now program officer in the Latin America Program at the Open Society Institute.

Hernando Paris, Ministry for Justice and Peace of Costa Rica
Lawyer and consultant. He was Judge of the First Court, Director of the Court President Cabinet, Director of the Programa de Resolución Alterna de Conflictos del Poder Judicial (Program for Alternative Resolution of Disputes at Judiciary); Secretary General of the Court and Supplant Civil Superior Judge. He was Supplant Judge of the Supreme Court of Justice. Hernando Paris has developed academic activities and he’s author of publications and books on Civil Rights, Commercial Law and alternative methods for conflicts resolutions. Nowadays, he’s Ministry for Justice and Peace of the Costa Rica Government.

Hugo Frühling, Centro de Estudios de Seguridad Ciudadana del Instituto de Asuntos Públicos de la Universidad de Chile (Center for Citizen Security Studies at the Institute for Public Affairs, Universidad de Chile)
Lawyer from Universidad de Chile and Doctor in Juridical Sciences from Harvard University. He has been visitant professor of Ottawa, Harvard and Princeton Universities and visitant fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. From 1992 to 1994 he was Executive Secretary and Council Member of the Public Security Coordinating Council and Secretary of the Interior adviser. Frühling has published several texts on human rights, police and justice reform in Latin America, and has been consultant at the United Nations, the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank in his main fields. Nowadays, he’s titular professor of the Instituto de Asuntos Públicos (Institute for Public Affairs) of Universidad de Chile and Director of the Centro de Estudios en Seguridad Ciudadana (Center for Citizen Security Studies) of these institute.

Javiera Blanco, Fundación Paz Ciudadana (Civic Peace Foundation)
Lawyer from Universidad Católica de Chile and MA in Management and Public Policy from Universidad de Chile. She has developed academic and research activities in many national universities and Fundación Paz Ciudadana (Civic Peace Foundation), where she’s now Executive Director. Blanco also worked at Undersecretary of Carabineros, in Chile, until 2010.

Lawrence Sherman, Cambridge University
Wolfson Professor of Criminology at the Cambridge University in 2006. He’s founding Director of Jerry Lee Center of Criminology of Pennsylvania University in Philadelphia and first president of its Criminology Department. Previously, Sherman was Distinguished Professor of Maryland University and associated professor at the Albany University’s Criminal Justice School. His research is centered on crime prevention, evidence-based policy, restorative justice, police practices and experimental criminology. He has been president of the American Society of Criminology, the American Academy of Political and Social Science and the Experimental Criminology Academy. Sherman has worked as consultant at several institutions and public agencies in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Michael Shifter, Inter-American Dialogue
Summa cum laude graduate from Oberlin College and Sociology MA from Harvard University. He presides the Inter-American Dialogue on Western Hemisphere Affairs political forum. Shifter is Latin American associate professor at School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University. He directed the Fondo Nacional para la Democracia y la Gobernabilidad (National Fund for Democracy and Governability) of the Ford Foundation's Latin American and Caribbean Program and Human Rights Program in Andean Region and Southern Cone.

Paula Miraglia, International Centre for the Prevention of Crime
Anthropology PhD. She has developed her academic and professional activities on urban violence, crime prevention, youth and security and development of local planes on crime prevention, police training and public policy research in many levels. She has been consultant at the Inter-American Development Bank and the United Nations Development Program; she’s also member of the Brazilian forum on Public Safety and researcher at the International Centre for Comparative Criminology (Montreal University, Canada). She also collaborates at International Centre for the Prevention of Crime (ICPC).

Timothy Shaw, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
For the past decade, Timothy Shaw has been professor & director at two postgraduate research institutes: first, Commonwealth Studies at the University of London & then International Relations at the University of the West Indies. Previously he taught Political Science & Development Studies for three decades at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia with visiting posts at the Universities of Ife (Nigeria), Rhodes (South Africa), Zambia & Zimbabwe. He worked on the liberation movements in Southern Africa in the 1960s/1970s & has recently been involved in research projects in the Caribbean on small arms & on private security. His latest monograph is Commonwealth: inter- & non-state contributions to global governance (Routledge, 2008). He is coediting a trio of titles in 2011/12: Inter-American Cooperation at a Crossroads, Ashgate Research Companion to Regionalisms & Africa & International Relations in the 21st Century. Dr Shaw continues to be visiting professor at MUST in Uganda & Stellenbosch University in South Africa.