vol. 52 núm. 2 (2010): julio - diciembre

This research is aimed at analyzing the psychological implications generated by the sudden occurrence of unexpected events, such as kidnap or extortion, by which victims and their closest family circle are fall into a situation of turmoil, unbalance, and cognitive, behavioral, emotional, physical, economical and social disorder likely to worsen according to different either learned or retained and often irrational beliefs and conducts. The population sample consisted of five men and five women, all of them residing in the city of Cali (Colombia), who had been victims of kidnapping and extortion. In this article, beliefs and conducts present in both the victims and their relatives are described and, based on the postulates of Albert Ellis’s rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT), an analysis is made of how these behaviors tend to affect in greater manner the ambiguous and complex process they must confront. Informationcollection was possible through in-depth interviews. The results revealed that victims feel in some way responsible for their fate, because, as they say. “they did not, by themselves, prevent those unfortunate events from happening”; they meet obstacles to confront their responsibilities, giving rise to feelings of insecurity, inferiority and mistrust, as well as ignorance of their own abilities and qualities. As for the family members, they suffer emotional distress and disturbances added to feelings of uselessness, aggressiveness, guilt or lack of interest, as well as stress, psychosomatic illnesses, and isolation or shame.

An analysis is offered of the evolution of state organizations out of the conjuncture of violence, and from that starting point attempting to understand the Military-State relationship, in terms of autonomy and the Nation-State shaping process. By means of a bibliographic review limited to the work of classic and modern authors having dealt with the European experience, the inclination to autonomy of the military was examined by taking into account the State and the Nation-State shaping processes in the modern Western world. As a result, it was found that the shaping of the modern Nation-State was an unexpected effect of the civilization process that took violence away from society by confining it to the barracks and organizations such as the Military Forces and the Police, and gave origin as well to the creation of institutions oriented towards improving the living conditions of citizens.

The offense of kidnap is a social calamity having experienced mutations in the course of time. Year 2009 ended with an unprecedented figure of kidnappings reported in Venezuela. Data contributed by official agencies reveal that, during 2008, there were 537 cases which accounts for a 52% increase with respect to the total reported in 2007, while the figure in 2009 grew by 62.82% with relation to the previous year. The objective of this research is describing the crime of kidnap in Venezuela, with special reference to the State of Zulia, a zone bordering Colombia; for this purpose, a methodology of the documentary-descriptive type is used. It reveals that no predefined schemes exist to characterize this criminal type  because, in the way it has been occurring, it is likely to take place at any time under any circumstance, not exclusively amid subjects with a high socio-economic or political status, but even at the level of people with the lowest economic means, thus unable to meet the demands of the kidnappers; hence the proliferation of the so-called “secuestro exprés” (“express kidnapping”) mode. The patterns of the offense of kidnap in Venezuela have been changing in a very significant manner: from being a predominantly political and bordering crime carried out by organized groups, it has become one of the most usual - particularly economic – urban objectives, committed by common criminals for a profit-driven purpose.  Actually, the State of Zulia continues to rise in the list of states with the highest incidence of this crime in Venezuela, though it has not remained in the first place now that various cities in other regions have began to occupy its position, currently lead by Caracas, the capital city.

This article offers a bibliographical review about the social impact of violence against old people from the criminological perspective. In this work, the dialectic-materialistic approach of reality was used as an investigative method, making all the research easier at different stages. Both generalizing and systemizing valuations were prepared from the basis of the modelative and systematizing-structural approaches. After having analyzed the concepts of violence, a definition was established out of a social and historical preparation; there are two principles serving to distinguish the features of violence features: one of them conceives it as a phenomenon of social nature; the other one is the theoretical-ecological postulate, consisting in the use of physical, psychological or emotional force, and this involves abuse of power as the only method serving to resolve the conflict. Likewise, the behavior of violence against the elderly was examined in several countries: Spain, the United States, Peru, Brazil, Panama, Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Cuba. In general terms, the incidence figures of this anomaly are alarming. In Cuba, as well, victimization against old people is growing. Psychological or emotional violence is seen as a fundamental manifestation. Although there are mechanisms dealing with denunciation, lack of action disclosure and systematicity permitting confrontation against the incidence of this social evil of violence affecting the risk group. 

This research is aimed at describing criminological characteristics among a group of seven individuals sentenced for offenses against public  administration. Socio-demographic variables were taken into account, as well as modus operandi (criminological variable) and personality (psychological variable). In this research of exploratory nature, with a descriptive analysis and intentional sampling, six male inmates (average age 44) of two prisons in Bogota and Villavicencio took part between 2009 and 2010. As instruments, the personality questionnaire 16 PF, form B, the semistructured interview on modus operandi, the socio-demographic variables and the social desirability questionnaire by Dominguez, Salas-Menotti and Reyes (2008) were used. The results reveal that there are personality traits commonly shared by at least five participants, such as tendency to specific, concrete thought, emotional instability, dominance, external control locus, suspiciousness, a high normativity level though associated to physical pain, work stability and good remuneration, higher education studies in economic sciences and law. These are people with no prior investigation backgrounds; they act alone or with the help of a minimum number of people, without further behaviors to cover their criminal acts. Their offenses are perpetrated in a short period of time. Average prison sentence: 84 months. 

Because the Colombian internal conflict has been a permanent and still ongoing situation since the times of the Independence, analyzing other experiences in the region is important in order to reach deeper understanding of the causes of this adversity in Colombia. For this purpose, resorting to the perspective of violence, its monopoly, and the modern Nation-State shaping processes has been necessary. The methodology used comes from analysis and discussion of classic and modern authors’ postulates. Likewise, the Nation-State shaping conjuncture taking place in Latin America was considered, with special attention given to the role of the Military Forces and their inclination to autonomy. Typicities of the region were also taken into account, such as the predominant type of war, the role of regional elites and their relationship with central power, among others. Results indicate that, according to the authors reviewed, these typicities have given rise to the shaping of weak States with no clear distinction between Military Forces and Police roles, and with an unclear definition of citizenship.  Taking these approaches as a starting point, the conclusion is that carrying out further investigations and research is necessary and urgent since they may help understand the relations among power, autonomy and roles from the perspective of war and monopoly of violence in Colombia, and find a way out for this already too long and too complex internal conflict in the country by taking into account the Nation-State shaping processes out of violence.