Miguel Cruz, Jose Graduate Faculty
- Associate Professor, Criminology and Criminal Justice , Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs
Overview
overview
- José Miguel Cruz is the current Director of Research at FIU's Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center. He is an expert in the area of criminal violence, gangs, police, democratization and public opinion in Latin America. Cruz has a Ph.D. in Political Science awarded by Vanderbilt University, a Masters in Public Policy from Oxford University, and a BA in Psychology from the Universidad Centroamericana.
Publications
selected scholarly works & creative activities
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Article
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2026Trust in the Police Among Youth in Central America: A Comparative Study. International Criminal Justice Review.Full Text via DOI: 10.1177/10575677261427385 Web of Science: 001706332700001
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2025The Impact of Dating a Gang Member on Adolescent Delinquency in Central America. International Criminology. 5:502-516.Full Text via DOI: 10.1007/s43576-025-00166-4
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2025Dancing with the devil: Intervention programs under criminal governance in Northern Central America. Criminology & Criminal Justice : CCJ. 25:612-629.Full Text via DOI: 10.1177/17488958221140548 Web of Science: 000912148800001
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2024The dynamics of criminal cooperation between the police and gangs in Honduras. Trends in Organized Crime. 27:475-495.Full Text via DOI: 10.1007/s12117-023-09494-1 Web of Science: 000948754500001
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2024The "New Wars": security and cooperation in Mexico and Northern Central America. Crime, Law and Social Change. 82:821-844.Full Text via DOI: 10.1007/s10611-023-10130-w Web of Science: 001109957800001
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2024Community Fútbol Coaches Working Together to Prevent Violence and Promote Positive Youth Development in Colombia. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology. 34.Full Text via DOI: 10.1002/casp.2895 Web of Science: 001368170600001
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2024Exit is the answer: The political nature of Central American migration. International Migration. 62:143-158.Full Text via DOI: 10.1111/imig.13206 Web of Science: 001096269600001
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2024Leaving the Pervasive Barrio: Gang Disengagement under Criminal Governance. Social problems. 71:254-270.Full Text via DOI: 10.1093/socpro/spac001 Web of Science: 000764838300001
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2023The long arm of the gang: Disengagement under gang governance in Central America. Criminology (Beverly Hills). 61:929-956.Full Text via DOI: 10.1111/1745-9125.12352 Web of Science: 001067001800001
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2023How High-Frequency Users Embraced Cannabis Regulation in Uruguay. Journal of Drug Issues. 53:519-535.Full Text via DOI: 10.1177/00220426221134902 Web of Science: 000871908200001
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2022State Presence, Armed Actors, and Criminal Violence in Central America. Sociological Quarterly. 63:641-660.Full Text via DOI: 10.1080/00380253.2021.1940349 Web of Science: 000670504900001
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2022Police Legitimacy and Hybrid Security Orders in Central America. Social Forces. 100:1833-1855.Full Text via DOI: 10.1093/sf/soab087 Web of Science: 000788709300044
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2022Police, non-state actors, and political legitimacy in Central America. Policing & Society. 32:291-310.Full Text via DOI: 10.1080/10439463.2022.2037559 Web of Science: 000754439300001
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2019Rethinking the Mechanisms of Gang Desistance in a Developing Country. Deviant Behavior. 40:1493-1507.Full Text via DOI: 10.1080/01639625.2018.1519130 Web of Science: 000487397900001
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2019The Politics of Negotiating with Gangs. The Case of El Salvador. Bulletin of Latin American Research. 38:547-562.Full Text via DOI: 10.1111/blar.12847 Web of Science: 000498896900001
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2019Determinants of Support for Extralegal Violence in Latin America and the Caribbean. Latin American Research Review. 54:50-68.Full Text via DOI: 10.25222/larr.212 Web of Science: 000463996300004
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2018Overcoming Stigma and Discrimination: Challenges for Reinsertion of Gang Members in Developing Countries. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology. 62:4758-4775.Full Text via DOI: 10.1177/0306624X18785517 Web of Science: 000446857100002
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2018The status of support for cannabis regulation in Uruguay 4 years after reform: Evidence from public opinion surveys. Drug and Alcohol Review. 37:S429-S434.Full Text via DOI: 10.1111/dar.12642 Web of Science: 000431986800057
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2018Saying no to weed: Public opinion towards cannabis legalisation in Uruguay. Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy. 25:67-76.Full Text via DOI: 10.1080/09687637.2016.1237475 Web of Science: 000417763800008
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2016State and criminal violence in Latin America. Crime, Law and Social Change. 66:375-396.Full Text via DOI: 10.1007/s10611-016-9631-9 Web of Science: 000385174200003
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2016Determinants of Public Support for Marijuana Legalization in Uruguay, the United States, and El Salvador. Journal of Drug Issues. 46:308-325.Full Text via DOI: 10.1177/0022042616649005 Web of Science: 000383001200002
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2016Cannabis clubs in Uruguay: The challenges of regulation. International Journal on Drug Policy, The. 34:41-48.Full Text via DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2016.05.015 Web of Science: 000382596100008
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2016Cannabis consumption patterns among frequent consumers in Uruguay. International Journal on Drug Policy, The. 34:34-40.Full Text via DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2016.05.008 Web of Science: 000382596100007
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2016Hiding violence to deal with the state: Criminal pacts in El Salvador and Medellin. Journal of Peace Research. 53:197-210.Full Text via DOI: 10.1177/0022343315626239 Web of Science: 000372298900004
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2015Police Misconduct and Political Legitimacy in Central America. Journal of Latin American Studies. 47:251-283.Full Text via DOI: 10.1017/S0022216X15000085 Web of Science: 000353027200002
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2014The transformation of the Central American maras. CUESTIONES DE SOCIOLOGIA.Web of Science: 000420782500014
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2011Hearing the Voice of the People: Human Rights as if People Mattered. New Political Science. 33:1-22.Full Text via DOI: 10.1080/07393148.2011.544475 Web of Science: 000210517000002
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2010Central American maras: from youth street gangs to transnational protection rackets. Global Crime. 11:379-398.Full Text via DOI: 10.1080/17440572.2010.519518 Web of Science: 000212599000001
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1999Being a victim of urban violence: Its likelihood and its associated variables in cities of Latin America and Spain. Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública. 5:259-267.
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1999The psychosocial impact of violence in San Salvador. Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública. 5:295-302.Full Text via DOI: 10.1590/S1020-49891999000400013
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1998Agresión, victimización y armas en los centros educativos de San Salvador. Realidad. 337-355.Full Text via DOI: 10.5377/realidad.v0i64.4893
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1997El apoyo ciudadano a la acción extrajudicial de la política en Brasil, El Salvador y Venezuela. Realidad. 603-614.Full Text via DOI: 10.5377/realidad.v0i60.4986
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1996Actitudes hacia la integración económica: datos de El Salvador y Costa Rica en 1994. Realidad. 659-672.Full Text via DOI: 10.5377/realidad.v0i53.5073
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Criminal Violence and Democratization in Central America: The Survival of the Violent State. Latin American Politics and Society. 53:1-33.Full Text via DOI: 10.1111/j.1548-2456.2011.00132.x Web of Science: 000298356700001
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Mara forever? Factors associated with gang disengagement in El Salvador. Journal of Criminal Justice. 69.Full Text via DOI: 10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2020.101705 Web of Science: 000551670700004
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Book Chapter
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2024
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2022Gangs and criminal governance in El Salvador. 44-62.Full Text via DOI: 10.4324/9781003265672-4
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2016The state and the reproduction of violence in post-transition El Salvador and Guatemala. 157-174.Web of Science: 000402966700010
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2014
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2013Internal wars and Latin American nationalism. 279-305.Web of Science: 000326965700012
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Book Review
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2016Homies and Hermanos: God and Gangs in Central America. Ed. 45.Full Text via DOI: 10.1177/0094306115621526d Web of Science: 000367726300009
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2013Policing Democracy: Overcoming Obstacles to Citizen Security in Latin America. Ed. 11.Full Text via DOI: 10.1017/S1537592713001370 Web of Science: 000324594200042
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Other Scholarly Work
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2015The Root Causes of the Central American Crisis. Current History. 43-48.Web of Science: 000349734900001
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2006Influence of copper status on the accumulation of toxic and essential metals in cattle.. Environment International. 901-906.Full Text via DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2006.05.012
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Research
principal investigator on
- Evaluating Gang Prevention Programming in Central America (El Salvador) awarded by U.S. Department of State 2022 - 2025
- Evaluating Gang Prevention Programming in Central America - Panama awarded by U.S. Department of State 2022 - 2025
- Evaluating Gang Prevention Programming in Central America awarded by U.S. Department of State 2022 - 2025
- Evaluating Gang Prevention Programming in Central America - Honduras awarded by U.S. Department of State 2022 - 2025
- Civil Society Capacity Building to Prevent, Identify and Expose Corruption and Impunity in El Salvador awarded by U.S. Department of State 2023 - 2025
- The Central America Security and Drug Fellowship awarded by Open Society Foundations 2017 - 2022
- Conduct a Study to Understand Gang Governance and Intervention Programs at the Local Level awarded by American Institutes for Research 2021
- Latin America and the Caribbean Youth Violence Prevention awarded by American Institutes for Research 2018 - 2021
- Anti-Corruption Project to Strengthen Judicial Systems in Central America awarded by Howard G. Buffett Foundation 2019 - 2020
- United States Human Trafficking Hubs, Miami Chapter awarded by U.S. Department of Homeland Security 2018 - 2019
- Systematization of the Community-Based Police in El Salvador awarded by Open Society Foundations 2015 - 2017
- Electoral Participation in Nicaragua: Citizen conceptualization, behavior and political attitudes awarded by Fundacion Grupo Civico Etica Y Transpare 2017
- The new face of street gangs: The gang phenomenon in El Salvador. awarded by Intl Narcotics & Law Enforcement Affairs 2016 - 2017
- The Transformation of Drug Policy awarded by Open Society Foundations 2014 - 2015
- CRIME AND VIOLENCE IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN awarded by Inter-American Development Bank 2013
- Consultancy: document on the impact of illicit economy on children in LAC awarded by UNICEF 2011
co-principal investigator on
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Grant
- Civil Society Capacity Building to Prevent, Identify and Expose Corruption and Impunity in El Salvador awarded by U.S. Department of State 2023 - 2025
- FIU SOUTHCOM Academic Roundtable Series awarded by U.S. Army 2013 - 2014
subproject principal investigator on
- Tinker Field Research Collaborative awarded by Tinker Foundation Inc. 2020 - 2025
- Tinker Field Research Grant awarded by Tinker Foundation Inc. 2019 - 2024
- CERDEC Flight Activity (CFA) System Engineering Support awarded by U.S. Department of Defense 2015 - 2018
investigator on
- CERDEC Flight Activity (CFA) System Engineering Support awarded by U.S. Department of Defense 2015 - 2018
Contact
full name
- Jose Cruz
