The Center for Latin American Studies is pleased to share the news of a new publication by Franklin Moreno, former Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice and the Department of Psychology–Newark at Rutgers University, and now Assistant Professor of Research in the Criminal Justice Department and the Public Policy Lab at Temple University.
Franklin is co-author of the chapter “Relaciones de poder asociadas a la violencia comunitaria en San Pedro Sula: Consideraciones e implicaciones para la investigación en psicología del desarrollo sobre la exposición a la violencia,” written alongside E. Mark Cummings (University of Notre Dame) and Paul Boxer (Rutgers University). The chapter appears in the edited volume Latinoamérica cruda y cruel: Mercados de drogas ilegalizadas, respuestas institucionales e impactos en las comunidades, edited by Nilia Viscardi and Gabriel Tenenbaum and published by the Universidad de la República Uruguay.
The chapter examines the power dynamics shaping young people’s exposure to community violence in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Drawing on mixed-methods research, the authors analyze how top-down and bottom-up relationships between families, gangs, and the police influence youth experiences of safety, insecurity, and emotional security development. The study also highlights the broader implications for developmental psychology research on exposure to violence.
The edited volume brings together scholars from multiple countries and disciplines to explore themes of violence, security, drug markets, and institutional responses across youth, community, political, and state spheres.
Franklin, who also holds an M.A. in Latin American and Caribbean Studies from NYU, remains connected to Rutgers as a member of the Mexico–Central America Working Group at CLAS. We congratulate him on this important contribution to the field.
