Several indicators are used to measure insecurity, violence and crime. In assessing the status
of citizen security in Latin America, this study briefly presents and discusses some of them—
namely, homicide, which indicates levels of violence; victimization, which is an expression of the
intensity of crimes against property; perceptions of insecurity, which refer to the level of fear in
the face of criminal activities; confidence in the police agencies responsible for preventing and
investigating crime; and the state of the prison system.