The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence

by Gary A. Haugen, Victor Boutros

When we think of global poverty we usually think of hunger, disease, homelessness. Few of us think of violence. But beneath the surface of the poorest communities in the developing world is a hidden epidemic of everyday violence-of rape, forced labor, illegal detention, land theft, police abuse, and more- that is undermining our best efforts to assist the poor.
Gary Haugen and Victor Boutros's The Locust Effect offers a searing account of the way pervasive violence blocks the road out of poverty, undermines economic development, and reduces the effectiveness of international public health efforts. As corrupt and dysfunctional justice systems allow the locusts of predatory violence to descend upon the poor, the ravaging plague lays waste to programs of income generation, disease prevention, education for girls and other assistance to the poor. And tragically, none of these aid programs can stop the violence.
In graphic real-world stories-set in locales ranging from Peru to India to Nigeria- The Locust Effect offers a gripping journey into the vast, hidden underworld of everyday violence where justice is only available to those with money. But the book holds out hope, recalling that justice systems in developed countries were once just as corrupt and brutal; and explores a practical path for throwing off antiquated colonial justice systems and re-engineering the administration of justice to protect the poorest.
Sweeping in scope and filled with unforgettable stories, The Locust Effect will force us to rethink everything we know about the causes of poverty and what it will take make the poor safe enough to prosper.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Social Justice, Economics, Justice, Sociology, Poverty

368 pages, Hardcover

First published December 9, 2013

About the author

Gary A. Haugen is founder and CEO of International Justice Mission, a human rights organization based in Washington, DC. Prior to founding IJM he worked in the civil rights division of the US Department of Justice and was director of the United Nations genocide investigation in Rwanda. He is also the author of Good News About Injustice (IVP).

Reviews

[Mikey B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every once in awhile there is a book that succeeds in re-shaping your out-look. “The Locust Effect” is one such book.

One of Franklin Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms was “Freedom from Fear”*. This is what this book is about. My review will consist of many devastating quotes from it. The premise is that the bulk of the world’s poor in developing countries are oppressed by fear – and that is their main day-to-day pre-occupation. They have absolutely no protection under rule of law. They fear for their safety on the streets and even in their own homes. In a study by the World Bank it was found that poor people are in a constant state of fear and powerlessness.

Page 33 (my book)
This is the most deeply hidden layer of what it means to be poor: the dark humiliation and debasement of being assailed and hurt by other people.

The authors provide several examples. There are more slaves today than ever – 27 million (page 18). India has more slaves than any other country. There is sexual exploitation and a pervasive violence against women and girls.

Page 32
Violence is one of the most important reasons girls do not go to school.

Page 46
[There is] the absence of a functioning law enforcement capacity to provide an effective restraint and credible deterrent to acts of violence

Page 52
Every year, millions of girls in the developing world are forced into marriage before the age of 15

Page 53
Impunity for violence against women contributes to a climate when such acts [early marriage, FGM, honor killings...] are seen as normal and acceptable.

Page 55
WHO studies indicate that, for large populations of girls in the developing world, school is the most common place where sexual violence occurs.

Page 74
“We don’t have to go to the police,” he [a bonded slave] said, “the owner pays the police to come to us, to beat us.”

Page 80
Every year millions of the world’s poorest people are forcibly thrown out of their homes and off their land.

It is women, and their children, who are most affected by the above – generally women in developing countries have fewer rights than men.

In much of the developing world the police need nothing to detain you – and this can be for months – in a small over-crowded room.

Page 113 in Kenya
Dan is too poor to pay for legal representation so he gets what most of the poor in the developing world get when they come to trial – not incompetent, sleepy, or second-rate counsel, but no legal representation at all.

Page 146-147
Nine African countries have a combined population of over 114 million people, and yet between them they only have 2,550 lawyers - the same number of lawyers that practice in the state of Vermont, which has a population of about 600,000 people.

Supplying the poor with food, with education, with health care will not alleviate this plague of violence. The bullies in their communities must be controlled by rule of law.

Page 100
If there is no restraint of the bullies who are prepared to steal every sprig of prosperity away from those who are weak, then the outcome of our assistance is going to be disappointing.

There are signs of hope. The authors provide examples of large cities like New York, London, Tokyo and Paris that years ago were crime-ridden and corrupt – and managed to re-invent themselves. Then we are given new examples from today’s world. The city of Cebu in the Philippines has curtailed the sex trade of girls. Slavery has been reduced in Brazil. Sex offenders have been arrested and sex crimes against girls and women have lessened in Huanuco, Peru.

But much work needs to be done. A powerful message is in this book.


* The other three are “Freedom of Speech”, “Freedom of Worship” and “Freedom from Want”.

[Muneel Zaidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can teach people how to farm, create access to clean water, and make affordable housing, but none of that will matter if the people you are trying to help are not safe. In the virtually lawless places that the disenfranchised poor live in, providing basic physiological needs will only treat the symptoms of the problem, doing nothing to address the root of the problem, violence. Socially conscience people will find much of interest in this graphic account of the lives of the millions who live in destitute, and how violence affects everything in their day to day activities. The authors paint a poignant picture, exploring child rape and exploitation, human trafficking and slavery, illegal property seizure and detention, and corruption and inefficiencies in the legal system. They go on to explain how these systems developed and what can be done to correct such a massive systemic problem.

This was an eye opening book; I was revolted by some of the accounts that were described, some descriptions are still seared into my brain. Poor people are treated like trash in the world, and it's messed up. I wish people could just be kind to one another, but that's the not the world we live in. While most people do not have ill will towards others, some do, and they exploit the others. Reading this has me convinced that investment into the legal system of developing countries is vital, just as or even more so than investment in food, water, shelter, and education.

If you are reading this, you're probably at the top of Maslow's pyramid with me, by virtue of the fact you are in a developed nation. I'd like to think I do not take that for granted, but I never realized how important the legal system was, and how much I took it for granted that the police did not just randomly beat me or demand a bribe every time I was pulled over. If you want to broaden your perspective on how the rest of the world lives, read this book. After doing so, if you are a charitable person, you will not need much convincing to donate to the few organizations fighting the uphill battle for legal reform in developing countries.

[Arun Mahendrakar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd like to start by saying that the first few chapters of this book are definitely not for the faint-hearted. It paints a stark and dark picture of violence around the world.

Chapters 1 and 2 talk about extremely disturbing stories of abuse on women / girls and some statistics about violence against women across the world. There are sections that talk about forced labor and illegal land seizures. And then there is heart-rending story of Caleb and Bruno who are victims of abusive police.

It is not until I got to chapter 3 that I found out why the authors had titled the book as 'The Locust Effect'. This chapter first describes the 'Locust attack' in the 19th century affecting the Mid-West US. It then uses this incident to show how our efforts to improve the economy and reduce poverty without getting a hold on controlling violence 'seems like a mocking'. The drop in GDP due to violence clearly elucidates the cost of violence across the developing countries in the world.

The next chapter talks about more forms lawlessness in the African countries.

Chapter 5 talks about the most fundamental systems - the public justice system. The authors breaks them into three segments - the Police, the Prosecutors and the Courts. The break-down makes it very clear that all these segments hold equal responsibilities when it comes to reducing crime and violence in a society.

Chapter 6 is about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and it's acceptance and inclusion into the judicial system, although the book clearly explains that due to the lack of enforcement of these rules, the first two steps of identification of these rights and their acceptance by the justice system were mostly in vain.

I'm from India and probably that's the main reason why I could associate very closely what is written in chapter 7. The reasoning given by Kirpal Dhillon about failure of Indian police was simply brilliant. It was surprising to find out that we're still using the Indian Police Act which was formulated in 1861.

Chapter 8 talks about how the wealthy use private security forces to provide to themselves security and why the rich prefer the public safety system to remain in a broken state.

Chapter 9 shows that US and the World Bank are helping the developing countries with foreign aid, but (and there's that 'but') it also shows that the investment priorities need to be revised.

The quiz in the beginning of chapter 10 took me by surprise. This is the first chapter that glimpsed a ray of positive hope towards improvement. It was nice to know that the current developed countries, once upon a time were, gangsta places.

The last chapter is about how IJM (International Justice Mission) is acting as a catalyst to bring by the change that is absolutely required for developing countries and eventually the entire world. The work done by IJM, without a spliter of doubt, is thoroughly inspiring and I would not have minded if the chapter lasted a few more pages.

The book is impressively documented with links to actual studies.

I'm from India and I would like to end my review with a joke:

The Police and the Lawyers are there to protect the good guys from the bad guys!

That's it.. that IS the joke! Hoping for a change soon around the world.

[Keren Threlfall · Rating 5 out of 5]

My introduction to Gary Haugen and International Justice Mission came a few years ago when I read Haugen's book, Just Courage: God's Great Expedition for the Restless Christian . At the time, I didn't think Just Courage itself to be a monumental work; but as a result of reading the book, I began following the work that IJM and Haugen are leading around the world.

Contrary to my opinion of Haugen's first book, I tend to think that The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence is monumental, ground-breaking, and a seminal read in addressing this subject.

As the western world and Evangelical Christians (such as Haugen) alike have gradually become more aware of the far-reaching poverty and injustice around the world, a more concerted effort has started to take place to love not only in word, but also in deed. Yet even in the beginning phases of these attempts to help, many organizations and individual efforts have failed to see the underlying, complex problem of violence as they address the crises of poverty, hunger, and health.

Haugen states in the opening of the book:

"But, the world overwhelmingly does not know that endemic to being poor is a vulnerability to violence, or the way violence is, right now, catastrophically crushing the global poor. As a result, the world is not getting busy trying to stop it. And, in a perfect tragedy, the failure to address that violence is actually devastating much of the other things good people are seeking to do to assist them."

Breaking this down into specifics:

"When we think of global poverty we readily think of hunger, disease, homelessness, illiteracy, dirty water, and a lack of education, but very few of us immediately think of the global poor’s chronic vulnerability to violence—the massive epidemic of sexual violence, forced labor, illegal detention, land theft, assault, police abuse, and oppression that lies hidden underneath the more visible deprivations of the poor.

Indeed, I am not even speaking of the large-scale spasmodic events of violence like the Rwandan genocide, or wars and civil conflicts which occasionally engulf the poor and generate headlines. Rather, I am speaking of the reality my IJM colleagues introduced to me in the years that followed my time in Rwanda—the reality of common, criminal violence in otherwise stable developing countries that afflicts far more of the global poor on a much larger and more persistent scale—and consistently
frustrates and blocks their climb out of poverty."

As the title suggests, Haugen paints a picture of the destructive nature violence using the analogy of a plague of locusts. In the case of the latter, one can focus on teaching people the best farming techniques, providing the highest quality seeds for planting, and coordinating the perfect planting times, etc... But the amount of effort, the productivity of the farmers, or the working with weather doesn't matter at all when a plague of locusts comes and devours the crops. The devastation is the same for both the lazy and hard-working farmer, though tragically, it is often those who have put in more effort who feel the crushing weight even more deeply.

And the destructive nature of violence is the same as it is with locusts: providing food, creating jobs, and teaching people business skills will not matter when violence devastates an individual or community.

Along the road to understanding some of the complexity of this violence, I read of many elements that have significant connections to our own lives and history, sometimes making this difficult information to process. From acknowledging that most of these broken justice systems in many third world countries are hangovers from the days of colonialism (police and protective force were designed to protect the elite from the masses, rather than to protect all people), to realizing that many times financial gain (often for many of our own foreign companies operating overseas) is prioritized ahead of confronting corrupt justice systems, to seeing parallels of how some Christian circles have also perpetuated the hurt of abuse as they misunderstand (at best) and mistreat (at worst) those who have been victims of abusers, and to seeing how easy it is to ignore cries for help, both here and abroad, it was challenging to understand how connected we really are to some of these issues.

Haugen also insightfully provides hope for regions with corrupt justice systems by demonstrating that in many western countries, the same levels of corruption have been drastically improved just within the last century.

"With all this in mind, the long view of history seems to offer a powerful lesson: namely, that reasonably functioning justice systems are possible even in circumstances in which they do not currently exist or seem unlikely to emerge. Historically, criminal justice systems that protected the poor and the weak did not exist anywhere and, to contemporaries, always seemed highly unlikely. Now they do exist, in lots of places, for billions of people. But in each case, a pitched battle was fought to rescue the public justice system from abuse for private gain, from misuse for political power, from the dysfunction of neglect, and from slavish bondage to outdated, unprofessional, and ineffectual practices.

The vantage point of history allows us to see that the dysfunctions in the criminal justice systems of the developing world today are normal. That is to say, they are to be expected—not only because utterly dysfunctional criminal justice systems were imposed on most of these countries by occupying colonial powers, but also because it seems that every society must very intentionally and vigorously rescue its criminal justice system from dysfunction and abuse."

He turns to specific examples of once-corrupt justice systems that are now considered to be excellent examples of justice systems that are in place to work for the good of all citizens. It was, of course, interesting to read this excerpt on the transformation that began to take place in the American justice system:

"For Americans, the earliest forms of formal policing seem to have emerged in the mid-nineteenth century, when cities got fed up with the way every dispute seemed to produce a rioting mob in the streets. In every country, the story of how policing emerged and why is organically connected to the distinctive story of the society at large—and for many historians, the distinctive story of U.S. policing emerges from the fact that American society was “more violent” than other western countries.

To be more precise, by the middle of the nineteenth century, it was becoming clear that Americans habitually rioted about almost everything: from political rivalries to street gangs’ territorial skirmishes; from racial tensions to labor disputes; from reform movements to denominational theological disagreements—there was almost no source of conflict in American society that did not bubble over into street violence. In the 1830s, thoughtful Americans like Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln began wondering aloud if the young republic could survive “the spirit of mob law,” and the “disregard for law which pervades the country.”"

And yet the author also admits that while a criminal justice system will not totally eliminate systemic violence, poverty, and corruption, this is nonetheless a necessary catalyst for change. How each community will address violence and poverty will look different every time, and we are just now beginning to skim the surface of such issues; yet, we cannot wait to act until we have all the answers, or we will never be able to act.

This book is most definitely a difficult read at times; but it is nonetheless highly important read for anyone living in the western world, particularly those who are concerned about putting hands and feet to the desire to alleviate global suffering, both spiritually and tangibly. And while it is a heart-wrenching read for many of us, this is the heart-wrenching, daily life for many, many people around the world. Please, read this book. If you read only one more book this year, make it this one!
Video Trailer for The Locust Effect
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZRMX...
Table of Contents


Originally posted here: http://www.kerenthrelfall.com/2014/06...

[Charles Haywood · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping to find real insight in this book. I didn’t. Not because the authors are not well-informed—they are very well informed about their topic. Nor because the authors are not well-intentioned—they are very well-intentioned. Nor do they appear to be wrong about most or all of their facts. But despite all their effort, coupled with constant and justified moral indignation and calls for global justice, they fail to confront the real reasons and solutions for the problem they outline.

The problem they outline is that violence is endemic in the undeveloped world, and that violence affects mostly the poor, among other things keeping them poor. Violence against the poor stays endemic without a functioning justice system, which these countries lack. The authors’ main point is that you cannot correct poverty without first reducing this violence against the poor (they fortunately seem to reject out of hand the silly contention that poverty itself causes the violence), by creating a functioning justice system. So far, so good. Few people would dispute this analysis.

But while the authors focus on violence, with numerous tragic anecdotes, violence is merely the product of the real problem. To their credit, they do identify the real problem, but then focus exclusively on violence, not the cause of the violence, which makes their argument more emotionally compelling but less logical. The real problem, of course, is that the rule of law does not hold in most undeveloped countries—primarily in Africa, but also poor countries in South America (Brazil, Peru) and South Asia (Bangladesh).

This is not surprising, since the rule of law is essentially an old European concept, imported occasionally and tenuously, and only recently, into non-European cultures, which is what all undeveloped countries have. Arbitrary rule by the powerful has been the norm in most societies throughout history. The West has escaped this. In essence, Haugen and Boutros point out with emotion and vigor what is obvious to anyone in the abstract—in a Hobbesian society, only those with money or power, which in such societies are really the same thing, receive justice. Everyone else cannot get the police to be interested in them, other than as prey; cannot get judges to administer justice; and cannot get the prison system to be anything but abusive—because there is no rule of law.

The rule of law isn’t just criminal justice, although that’s the nearly exclusive focus of the authors. It’s also, and critically for economic development, the security of property against arbitrary imposition by the powerful (though the authors do touch on this). And, finally, the rule of law in a just society requires allowing the use of weapons by private citizens for self-defense, which mitigates the violence of the powerful against the week (as they said of Sam Colt, he made all men equal). Lack of the rule of law means not just no real justice system—it also means no functioning health system for the masses, no functioning higher level agriculture system that spreads technology (because of no credit and a disincentive to risks), and no education system.

In all the societies focused on by the Haugen and Boutros, such rule of law is essentially totally absent. Violence against people is merely the most dramatic manifestation of a problem that more generally creates a defective society that is unable to develop is any meaningful way. None of this is news, although the authors seem to think it is. This has all been a commonplace of Western thought since the ancient Greeks.

While admirable to point out, and something that should be decried as any injustice, that lack of the rule of law creates bad societies is not news. Crappy societies have always been crappy. How to uncrapify an inferior society when it’s always been crappy is the Big Question. But all these societies focused on by the authors are deficient across the board, not just in their justice systems. Their economies have not developed, any more than has the rule of law. They mostly produce little or nothing of value culturally and per capita income is tiny. This confluence of crappiness is not coincidence. In essence nobody with any historical sense can deny that undeveloped societies are backward through some combination of bad culture, bad organizations, and bad luck, though the weight of each factor varies. Absence of the rule of law is just another manifestation of being a backward culture overall.

The authors place considerable stock, in hoping for future improvement, in that justice systems in the West (i.e., the developed world) used to be deficient by our modern standards. They exaggerate this, though—of their five examples of deficiency, rolled out with great fanfare, all five are from the late 19th century, all five are from urban or industrial areas, and three are from the United States. A broader perspective would show these to be outriders resulting from a period of extreme population growth in certain areas, coupled with rapid social change. Colonial America, for example, had excellent rule of law. It’s simply not true that in, for example, any Western country the rule of law has permanently been as absent as the countries the authors profile, probably since Roman times. Certainly an Englishman of the 14th Century could generally expect the rule of law—not perfectly, perhaps, and subject to periods of lawlessness during warfare. But much more so than, apparently, a modern Peruvian.

However, just because, as the authors say, “it’s been done before,” by which they mean by the West, doesn’t mean it will be done by modern undeveloped countries. It doesn’t mean the undeveloped world is on that track, any more than that the undeveloped world is on the track toward economic modernization. More likely it’s just another example of the Great Divergence—part of the world, us, keeps getting better, and the rest of it improves in places, but relatively speaking falls farther behind. Why that is, is another question with plenty of speculation to be found.

The authors believe that economic development assistance to the developing world would work, but that it can’t until the rule of law is established. The necessity of the rule of law to economic development is an ancient truism the authors seem to think they’ve discovered. But the authors have no solution as to how improvements in the rule of law can be made in a country by external forces, other than paeans to the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights and similar high-sounding statements and efforts that have exactly zero impact on the undeveloped world, except as a way for those outside that world to feel good about themselves, and for people in power inside the undeveloped world to winkle money from the first group by mouthing platitudes that make them seem worthy of receiving more cash. The reality is that unless these countries want the rule of law, and have developed enough to have money to spend on a real justice system, they are not going to have the rule of law or a high functioning justice system in the modern sense. All the feel-good NGOs in the world will never make a difference otherwise.

Haugen and Boutros bizarrely simultaneously blame and absolve colonialism for the lack of the rule of law in the non-developed world. They argue that in places like India, colonial justice was designed to protect the colonists—administered in the language of the colonists, not used to serve the public, not interested in solving crimes, and so forth. This is dubious history—in India, for example, their main example, almost all of the justice system remained in the same local hands it always had, since there were very few British at all, and they only administered high level justice (like banning the traditional Indian practice of suttee, forced burning of widows on their husbands’ funeral pyres).

But let’s assume that it’s true that colonial justice lacked the rule of law for the common people and that these countries inherited that problem. The authors then note that none of these countries have changed anything about their justice systems after colonialism. Apparently that’s the fault of colonialism too—not just in countries where a new authoritarianism replaced the old, but in democracies like India. Finally, they then proceed to admit, contrary to everything they’ve been arguing for pages, that “Colonialism does not, of course, explain everything about the brokenness of justice systems in the developing world. Indeed, there are some developing countries that were never fully colonized—e.g., Ethiopia and Thailand—and yet still struggle to provide the poor with functioning law enforcement, and it does not suggest that the pre-colonial justice systems in the developing world were any more effective in protecting the poor and weak from violence (generally they were not).” So apparently colonialism is irrelevant to the point at hand after all. And we’re back where we started.

In any case, Haugen and Boutros shrink from the obvious conclusion to all their analysis—if these problems are to be fixed, it is up to the societies that have those problems, not to us. There is nothing we can do. A society that has no rule of law is not going to have rule of law imposed from without. The same causes that result in no rule of law probably drive economic lassitude, over which we have equally no control, as shown repeatedly by the trillions thrown down the rathole of direct economic aid over the past decades, eaten up to no effect by elites and dictators. To a society that shows an actual willingness to improve its justice system, we can provide help through demonstrating systems of administration, as we did to post-Communist Eastern Europe with great success, or simply by being an example of how it can be done. Otherwise we are merely a voice crying in the Hobbesian wilderness.

The only example of (very narrow) success given by the authors, Georgia, simply proves that these countries need to help themselves, not that there is hope for most countries. Georgia apparently had considerable success reducing police corruption. Leaving aside that police corruption is only a small part of the overall puzzle of the rule of law, Georgia has close ties to the West, and the only reason there was any change was because of popular demand in an actual democracy that had enough money to actually have a functioning justice system. That doesn’t give much hope for Kenya and Sierra Leone. Creating the rule of law by sending “skilled defense attorneys . . . [as] the key to unlocking the full potential of criminal justice reforms,” and coupling that with “roundtable meetings where defense lawyers, judges, prosecutors, police, and prison officials can engage with one another and identify common ground” is just a pipe dream in societies where everything from child rape to murder is common because the rule of law does not run there. Haugen’s vigorous Christianity (not really mentioned in the book) gives him the optimism and strength to hope for change. That’s compassionate and compelling. And a book like this, focusing people on the problems of deficient societies, certainly can’t hurt. But as with throwing money for development at undeveloped countries, it’s unfortunately unlikely to help.

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

There have been remarkable gains in the fight against global poverty over the last 40 years (see Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World—and Why Things Are Better Than You Think), yet one neglected critical factor is the remaining vulnerability of the poor to multiple kinds of violence. Unfortunately, throughout much of the developing world the local police and judicial systems have been set up to protect the wealthy, but largely ignore the needs of, and often further victimize, the poorest of their citizens.

As much as we complain about the failures of the American justice system, it remains orders of magnitude better than what the poor have to deal with in many countries. In many places the poor can be robbed, beaten, raped, or enslaved with impunity. They have no one to protect them and no legal recourse when wronged.

Reading Slavery By Another Name shows how the practice of slavery continued in the US (although in a different form) for another 80 years after the Civil War. This is much to America’s shame. But those who wish to use this history to paint the US as somehow distinctly evil tend to ignore the ongoing worldwide slave trade that this book discusses. As horrific as this practice sounds, it is still happening with alarming frequency throughout much of the world today. In fact, worldwide, the number of people placed under bondage in modern slave labor each year is more than twice the number of slaves extracted from Africa during the 400 years of the trans-Atlantic slave trade (11 million).

I would love to see some sort of follow up to learn whether any of these abuses have been remedied since the book was published in 2014. Does every single rape victim in Nairobi still have to be examined by one particular doctor before any charges can be made against the rapist? Do poor people accused of crimes still languish for years in prisons awaiting the next judicial hearing conducted without any legal representation in a language they don’t understand? Is the average pre-trial detention still 3.7 years in Nigeria?

[Mehrsa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must-read. You cannot fix poverty without focusing on violence. Or rather, it doesn't matter what you do to make the lives of the poor better so long as they do not have access to a fair criminal justice system. This book is so right and it is intuitively right for anyone who has any experience at all abroad, but in a few very important ways it is wrong or not complete:

1. If you're going to focus on the systems of violence affecting the global poor, you have to talk about the US military. Or any other state violence that affects the poor the most.

2. In many US cities, certain populations (i.e. black men) do not have access to the criminal justice system in the way that others in the US do. They cannot trust it to do justice for them.

3. There is a myopic focus on what kinds of rule of law should be adopted and it's all western court systems, but some communities cannot get to here from where they are. In some societies, there are cruder forms of rule of law that we may not like. The reason the Islamic regimes came to dominate much of the middle east is because they promised to punish rapists and murderers and to uphold rule of law. Not in the way we like, but they did it better than the corrupt regimes they replaced. It's complicated.

4. Another big theory point--is violence a result of poverty or is it that violence abets the exploitation of the poor. I tend to think that it's not an accident that the poor are not protected from violence. I wonder if the reason that the rich are rich is because they are able to deploy violence to keep the poor off their property.

[Pat Rolston · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not easy reading and not in the technical sense, but in the gut wrenching in your face sense. There isn’t a book I have ever read short of depictions of the Rwanda Hutu-Tutsi massacres or the Jewish holocaust that elicit the sheer horror of mans inhumanity to man.

The author uses case studies to illustrate the savagery and inhuman actions common today throughout various regions of the world regarding slavery, human trafficking, and sexual violence. There are countervailing forces and initiatives being implemented that provide relief for the victims and hope for their futures.

There are multiple examples of the evolution of the rule of law and it’s enforcement in developed countries. This history shows us a path for countries where legal systems and authorities actually protect the worst offenders. The authors founded the IJM or International Justice Mission and it has had documented success in a manner that is profoundly tilting the balance of justice for the victims. This is an education into an area we all wish did not exist and knowledge is the first step toward the ultimate remedy of exposing and eradicating the worst of human behaviors toward the impoverished of our world.

[Laura Beard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not an easy read, but well-written and researched and very important.

[Tim Hoiland · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this game-changing new book, Gary Haugen of International Justice Mission and Victor Boutros of the U.S. Department of Justice argue that the experience of being poor nearly always includes vulnerability to violence, and that this violence keeps the cycle of poverty exceedingly difficult to break. They write, “It turns out that you can provide all manner of goods and services to the poor, as good people have been doing for decades, but if you are not restraining the bullies in the community from violence and theft—as we have been failing to do for decades—then we are going to find the outcomes of our efforts quite disappointing.”

This book doesn’t make for easy bedtime reading. No one who reads it will forget the story of Yuri, an 8-year-old victim of rape and murder in a remote Peruvian village, or the countless other stories of violent crime committed against people living in poverty throughout the world. Moreover, while the authors’ thorough documentation of studies related to violence and poverty will give the book credence among those whose decisions can truly affect the lives of billions, this intellectual seriousness doesn’t make for a carefree joyride.

Indeed, until the final chapter or two, we find ourselves faced with heartbreaking stories of violent abuse and explanations of the dizzyingly complex nature of the problem of lawless violence. Haugen and Boutros, it seems, are realists, but they are realists of the hopeful sort.

While some books about ending poverty make convenient and all-too-predictable “silver bullet” cases for a particular type of intervention, Haugen and Boutros manage to avoid that trap. Rather than diminishing the importance of traditional approaches to development, they say such efforts should be redoubled. The authors’ aim, however, is “to make sure that we are safeguarding the fruits of those efforts from being laid waste by the locusts of predatory violence.” Making a forceful and convincing case for one thing does not require pretending that nothing else matters; others who write about poverty and development should take note.

The Locust Effect, published by the prestigious Oxford University Press, is not an overtly Christian book. Nonetheless, anyone familiar with the work of Haugen and his IJM colleagues knows they are unquestionably motivated by deep Christian faith. Further, it seems to me that this book outlines a distinctly Christian way of doing human rights work, however subtly it is presented. Whereas activists often pit themselves antagonistically against corrupt systems and public figures, Haugen and Boutros call for a different approach. They recognize the corruption for what it is, to be sure, but they also understand that true flourishing requires the transformation of unjust systems and people—not the eradication of them.

Therefore, IJM isn’t content to shame corrupt or inadequate governments and law enforcement personnel into changing their ways. Rather, the goal is to establish trust and ideally to one day become authentic partners in defending the vulnerable and ensuring justice for all. “This can be a longer process than the approach of the dramatic, damning exposé,” they write, “but the truth is, it’s simply naïve to believe that meaningful transformation of a dysfunctional criminal justice system can ever occur without champions taking up the fight from the inside.”

With great moral urgency, The Locust Effect issues a clarion call to courageous action on behalf of the vulnerable poor. The sobering news is that the plague of hidden, everyday violence is real. The good news is that it is not inevitable.

- See more at: http://timhoiland.com/2014/04/locust-...

[Augusto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leitura interessantíssima. Uma tese que politicamente nunca foi bandeira de nenhum dos dois polos: a estabilidade socioeconômica dos países em desenvolvimento depende diretamente do fortalecimento (em sentido amplo) da aplicação da lei, inclusive das Forças Policiais.

Tese que, escrita por outras mãos menos temerárias e mais estúpidas, poderia ser uma defesa ingênua e desmedida de Estados Judicialescos/Policialescos distópicos tem um contraponto quando os autores, com vasta experiência internacional na IJM e outros organismos e programas transnacionais, ilustram casos de sucesso (e fracasso) com um realismo cruel. Não há uma frase sequer que apresente um ponto de vista higienista, equivocado ou romantizado do nosso Terceiro Mundo.

Inclusive o slogan na página da IJM - que neste exato momento é "Rescue thousands. Protect millions. Prove that justice for the poor is possible" - diz muito sobre o tema geral desta obra e a mentalidade desses caras. Haugen e Boutros são egressos da Faculdade de Direito de Harvard, o que poderia muito bem ter tornado-os os yuppies advogados usuais e inescrupulosos que adoramos odiar. Não é o caso, certamente.

A aplicação eficaz e eficiente da lei cria uma onda de choque capaz de modificar drasticamente o cenário. Difícil não ser motivado pelo otimismo justificado, factual. Os gafanhotos que destroem as colônias e ex-colônias há séculos são os mesmos que já afligiram colônias que deram certo (em várias medidas), e as receitas para mitigar as pragas são conhecidas.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book rocked my world.
Sometimes when I read a deeply-moving novel, my eyes brim with tears as my favorite character meets a painful demise. I have to pause and remind myself that this is a fictional world. But never have I ever shed a tear reading a non-fiction book...until now. I was so deeply affected by the stories of children and women and men in "The Locust Effect." Their true stories literally broke my heart.

The Locust Effect makes a rigorous case that the end of poverty will require the end of violence. The everyday plague of property grabbing, sexual abuse, forced labor, and corrupt justice systems undermine all other development efforts. New schools and health clinics are not used when families fear assault to go to them.

The authors, Gary Haugen and Victor Boutros, masterfully weave true stories of real cases among the massive volumes of statistics and reports. The stories of women and children give faces to the struggles of violence that are common place among the global poor. The endnotes alone are worth having as references for further research and understanding.

The Locust Effect will truly become the must-have resource for all who want to have a voice in fight against global poverty.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a phenomenal book arguing that the end of poverty requires the end of violence. If you think this is one of those 'anti-war' books, you are thinking too narrowly. A lot of what Haugen and Boutros are looking is violence within a given society which aggravates the suffering of the poor. Often things like rape, murder, abuse are illegal, but if the victim is poor, they have no hope of recourse through the legal system. There are systemic problems that allow for the poor to be continually victimized in much of the world (lack of resources for law enforcement, lack of training, lack of access to legal services, ineffective implementation, etc). Because Haugen's work with IJM he has heartbreaking story after heartbreaking story to tell.

But ultimately this isn't a depressing book but a hopeful one. Haugen and Boutros examine how first-world nations transformed in the last hundred years from mob rule (i.e. the American West) and oppressive military rule (Meiji era Japan) to societies which strive to protect and serve its most vulnerable members (yes I know this still isn't perfect, but we are a long way from the violence of yesteryear). Really thought-provoking stuff!

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the very promising preview of this book which consists of the Introduction and (part of?) Chapter 3: The Locust Effect - available here. In this book, which will be released in February 2014, Haugen focuses on the impact of criminal violence (and a lack of access to justice) on the poor, and how this can annul international efforts to alleviate them out of poverty.

[Sonja Schaalo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally finished. Took me 23 days to read. A rather slow speed. But here is what I learnt:

#1: It is the hidden forces of violence that keep states and its most vulnerable citizens trapped in the chains of poverty. Endemic to being poor is this vulnerability to violence and those of us who visit these places simply do not see it - we book our holidays on the beach, sip our Mojitos and have NO idea that the people you pass in the streets are more than likely struggling in ways we can't imagine. They live in a state of de facto lawlessness. The forms of violence half of the world's population (!) face each day include: sexual violence, forced labor, torture, illegal detention, land theft, assault, police abuse, and oppression.
#2: What little law enforcement there is fails the poor in many developing countries. The police and the justice systems are more often than not dysfunctional, corrupt and marinated in bias and prejudice.
#3: Developing countries have inherited colonial justice systems designed to protect the elite - systems that were never designed to protect the common people from violence but to protect the regime from the common people. These systems, it turns out, were never re-engineered after colonists left.
Let's take India for example. The next time so white privileged person tells me 'how happy the locals are with so little' I could gently present these facts that tell a very different story of life in India.
* There are about 410 million Indians trying to stay alive on about $1.25 per day—that’s about 100 million more people than the entire population of the United States.
* 46% of Indian children are malnourished and about 78 million Indians are homeless.
* There are more slaves in India today than in any other country in the world.
* If you are a young girl like Laura and even though you are only 10 years old, and you have been raped by three different men in your neighborhood, you have zero hope of seeing your rapists brought to justice.
* An estimated 15,000 women and girls are murdered each year in India in family disputes over dowry.
* 2.3 million women and girls are held in forced prostitution against their will in India.

Every Day struggle 2 billion people face each day living in poverty:
* Going to the bathroom is not safe. 75% of slum households do not have their own toilets, so hundreds of thousands of women and girls must walk hundreds of yards through the slums to use communal pit latrines and bathing stations that lack privacy, sanitation, or lighting at night.
* Almost nothing has a greater positive impact on the life of a girl and her community than education however, in the absence of effective law enforcement, schools will not protect girls from violence. In fact, schools are the most common place where sexual violence takes places. Both teachers and peers being the primary perpetrators of sexual violence. Sexual violence is the most powerful drivers of HIV/AIDS.

Women have it particularly bad:
* One out of three women around the world has been beaten, forced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime.
* Globally, 5,000 women and girls are murdered every year in so-called “honor killings”.
* Every day, about 6,000 girls around the world are faced with enduring female genital mutilation (FGM)

#5: Private justice systems are overtaking public justice systems, widening the gap between rich and poor.
#6: Very little developmental aid has been invested in criminal justice systems, but this needs to change.
#7: Violence destroys the social fabric and erodes relationships and trust.
#8: Poor people's greatest fear is not hunger or becoming ill but rather being hurt by violence.
#9: Huge problems are the pre-trial detentions that so many are subjected to. They sit in jails waiting for a trial, which never comes.
#10: We are all utterly dependent upon the inputs and protections from outside of ourselves. We are not self-contained units. We do not hold within our being the elements we require to survive or thrive.

Solutions
It is law enforcement; establish a functioning law enforcement capacity! It turns out if you're not safe nothing else matters. Yes, you need economic opportunity, education, a shift in cultural attitudes, community mediation, street lights, or midnight basketball. Law enforcement is not the only factor, but it must be in place before anything else can have its fair impact on change.

[Luke Magnuson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book seems important to me. Highly recommended if you have any interest in global poverty alleviation. It does a great job of highlighting:

a) The significance of everyday violence in the lives of the global poor, and their need to be protected from it. Indeed, much of our other aid initiatives fail to have as large an impact as they might otherwise have because of the poor's vulnerability to violence.

b) The importance and necessity of functional public justice systems in protecting the poor from violence, and the complete dysfunction of such systems in much of the world (in fact, they often do more harm than good).

c) How public justice systems in places like the United States and Europe were once completely disfunctional as well, and how these systems were changed to serve common citizens; demonstrating that public justice systems that seem hopelessly dysfunctional can be turned around.

d) Thus, the need in the global fight against poverty to priotize investment in programs that seek to improve public justice systems in developing world, even if it will be difficult.

[Natalie Hook · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book stresses the fact that all the monetary aid, schools, hospitals, and supply donations in the world won’t truly make an impact to those in developing countries until their criminal justice systems are changed to work for the poor and not against them. A highly recommended read that will likely make you feel like you’ve been living under a rock. One of the key solutions to ending global poverty is decreasing widespread violence and giving millions of people what so many of us take for granted each day... safety.

[Kelly Coles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely compelling book offering evidence for why ending poverty in the developing world requires establishing a healthy public justice system. So extremely detailed and dense that it took me over a year and a half to make it through the whole thing—but overall, I have even more confidence in the work IJM is doing around the world and would recommend this book to anyone with interest in justice systems and nonprofit work.

[Angela Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well researched, data and story driven explanation of the importance of personal security and effective criminal justice systems to eliminate extreme poverty. Hard to read at times because of the traffic stories, but also insightful as to what we can do moving forward.

[Cora Ferguson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for class but actually really enjoyed it For anyone interested in poverty reduction I would definitely recommend.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal. Everyone needs to read this book.

[Kelly Wolfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

first half incredibly interesting and surprising fast to get through but definitely slows down once focus shifts to how to prevent violence through …. law enforcement… - overall good book and an interesting take on global dev (was supposed to read this senior year and never had the time so figured i’d pick it up again now, happy i read but need to go back to fiction)

giving it four stars simply bc it did challenge my mindset and opened my eyes to the absolute horrors in developing nations buttttttt was a bit tough to finish so really a 3.5

[Alex]

The more I read the Bible the more I realize the ways that God is concerned about social justice. Many Christians, including myself, have failed to reflect Christ in our ignorance of the dark realities of the oppressed around the world.

The Locust Effect highlights the root of global poverty in violence. It's difficult to read because it exposes the worst of what we as humans are capable of doing to one another. That being said, we cannot go on pretending that providing food, education, water, and other resources is enough. As long as we do not help the oppressed and impoverished protect themselves from violence it will be taken away from those who abuse their power.

Gary Haugen does a brilliant job of weaving together intimate stories that speak of the pains of injustice at the individual scale as well as showing the magnitude of the issue with statistical facts. The book will help you understand the complex systems of injustice and the various factors that contribute to broken legal systems in the world. As a designer who is interested in designing for social systems, I know there is urgency for me to get better at my craft so that I can help those who are victims to the social systems of the present. I also appreciate how the books takes the time to describe the history of injustice and how it doesn't ignore the effects of colonialism still present today.

The book goes from describing the the conditions of the oppressed in the world, detailing why injustice exists the way it does, and ending by showing how there is hope despite the bleakness of the situation. I really appreciate the way that IJM approaches fighting injustice by empowering local leaders and communities. There is a humility in their approach where they acknowledge the limitation of their knowledge as outsiders and take the time to work alongside locals and carefully evaluate situations before they act.

Reading this book has been important in shaping how I understand the God that seems wrathful at times in the Old Testament. As I read through the minor prophets in particular it helps me understand why a God of justice that is not afraid to punish the oppressors would be so important. To care for the oppressed is to bring justice to the oppressor. Admittedly there is much more for me to learn about God and how He asks us as Christians to do justice and love mercy but this book has certainly helped me take one step in that journey.

[Leanne Rhodes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read “The Locust Effect” by Gary Haugen and Victor Boutros. I encourage every person who is interested in fighting trafficking to read it.

The Locust Effect is years of experience, tears that have been wept and lives that have cried out for justice, all rolled up into one script for the world to take notice of. I hope we all learn the lesson that the violence the poor face on a daily basis needs to be addressed or the aid and development work we do can be completely undermined by those that use terror as their tool of choice.

Haugen takes you deep into the slums of Africa, the mountaintops of Peru and the brick factories of India. You get to see the scars and the torture that you’ll never see on normal visit there. The subject of violence that Haugen deals with has largely been ignored because it is hidden by shame and fear of repercussions that the poor live with on a daily basis. Haugen uncovers the corrupt or non-existent legal systems that do nothing to protect the innocent, but instead rob them of justice and their life savings trying to find it.
This is not just an incredibly passionate book, but Haugen has done his homework too. He intellgently backs up his arguments with well researched statistics and draws in material from all over the world. Every page speaks of experience and thought that has become a life work and a cry against injustice. Haugen does not argue that all aid and development should be replaced with a focus on violence and law enforcement but he does argue that you will not have long lasting change without addressing these issues. He also brings a sense of hope, telling the stories of places where true transformation has occurred to entire communities. This is a fight that can be won.

The Locust Effect should find itself on every university humanitarian course required reading list, in missionary training and on the must read list of anyone who is interested in seeing poverty ended. The Locust Effect is an uncomfortable and challenging read but it’s message is too important not to be heard.

[Brendan Monroe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the hardest books you'll read but also one of the most important. "Disturbing" does not begin to encompass one's feelings after hearing some of the stories of those sold into slavery, forced into human trafficking, or simply made to perform acts that they did not wish. This is the kind of book you read right before slitting your wrists, because the world is a cruel, cruel place and so, as we learn here, are many of the people in it. But thankfully, many of the people in it are not, and the kind folks at IJM (the International Justice Mission) are proof of that.

But you have to understand the problem before you can begin to remedy it, and that's why this book is so important. Yes, hearing stories of how these poor people are so horribly mistreated is incredibly hard, but it is also incredibly necessary. As author Gary Haugen tells us, “the poor don’t have much in the way of money or possessions to steal—so it turns out that the most profitable thing to steal is the whole person.” And if this book tells us anything, it's that the poor are doubly victimized, first by the person committing the crime against them - whether that crime be rape, murder, enslavement, abuse, or something else - and then by the criminal justice system itself. This second failing is in some way even more egregious than the first, as it allows the criminals to continue abusing the poor and justifies their belief that they won't be held accountable for doing so.

Throughout the reader is just banged over the head with example after example of how money buys justice. Have money? Then you can get justice - or you can avoid justice. Don't have money? Then you're pretty much fucked. And that is the kind of criminal injustice that we all have a responsibility to try and eradicate from the world.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Without the world noticing, the locusts of common, criminal violence are right now ravaging the lives and dreams of billions of our poorest neighbors.”

"[W]e need to change the conversation. Whenever we speak of global poverty, we must speak of the violence embedded in that poverty...In every forum, conference, classroom, policy discussion, think tank, blog, or dinner table conversation where global poverty is center stage, the problem of violence deserves equal time with hunger, dirty water, disease, illiteracy, unemployment, gender discrimination, housing, or sanitation because for the poor, violence is every bit as devastating and is frequently the hidden force undermining solutions to these other needs."

Haugen makes the compelling case that violence against the poor has had a "devastating impact on a poor person's struggle out of poverty, seriously undermines economic development in poor countries, and directly reduces the effectiveness of poverty alleviation efforts." In many developing countries this plague of violence is a result of broken public justice systems that not only don't work to protect the poor, but because of their colonial roots, were never intended to protect the poor. As a result, violent criminals are able act with impunity. While Haugen paints a dire picture of the plight of billions of the world's poorest, he also demonstrates that change is possible and that other countries, which were once steeped in corruption have changed through focus and hard work. Haugen argues that "[l]aw enforcement is necessary, but insufficient to adequately address violence. But it is necessary. To be effective, law enforcement must work in tandem with other interventions that address other complex social causes of violence".

[RuthAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

STRONGLY recommended

It took me a long time to read The Locust Effect. The author, Gary Haugen, is the founder of International Justice Mission, and I was already pretty familiar with their work already. However, I did not have a clear picture of the context in which IJM does their work. To distill the work into good guys versus bad guys is overly reductive. Fighting human trafficking (among a whole range of other crimes) exists within a landscape of utter corruption, social impunity, and ignorance from the wider human rights discipline. The concept that preventing violence, ensuring physical safety, and removing threat from everyday life (like going to school, taking goods to market, farming, etc) seems like common sense, but it is NOT the common experience among the world's poor, and it's exacerbated by a lack of a functional criminal justice system. I feel privileged that this concept is so foreign to me; I also feel totally naive. Like, how are we missing this?

This is a dense book with a lot of information, and the subject matter is TOUGH. Toward the end, I realized that reading it felt similar to reading The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness: countless stats and stories that evidence a seemingly hopeless situation. It felt like a barrage of bad news, and I had to force myself to keep reading and be a witness to the reality. There are excellent case studies at the end about projects that are making a difference, so there is light at the end of the tunnel. The tunnel is just super long and dark.

The book also talks about how every developed nation went through a period of lawlessness that had to be overcome by grassroots community efforts, firm regulation and enforcement, and a changing tide of social acceptance of what would not be acceptable. Having a larger perspective (ie, this is not just "poor" countries but about developing nations in history) was very helpful for me to feel optimistic (read: less dire).

I'm glad I read this book; it's very sobering. The takeaways for me are to keep supporting IJM, learn more about how violence is the undermining other human rights efforts, and KEEP TALKING ABOUT THIS.

---

(Flagged notes added on January 3, 2018)

... for the global poor in this century, there is no higher-priority need with deeper and broader implications than the provision of basic justice systems that can protect them from the devastating ruin of common violence. Because as anyone who has tasted it knows, if you are not safe, nothing else matters. (xiv)

To secure meaningful hope, however, we must be standing on the solid rock of reality. ... From that brave refusal to look away - a decision made by millions of common people around the globe who could have turned the page, changed the channel, or clicked away - a hope grounded on hard reality was found, and a steady march out of the darkness has begun. (xv, referencing the response to the AIDS epidemic)

Given that there are at least 2.5 billion very poor people in the world, any condition that affects "most poor people" affects a lot of people. And if the condition affecting most of those 2.5 billion people is that they are outside the protection of law, then a lot of people are in big trouble - and a depth of trouble that the rest of us can scarcely imagine. To put it simply: They are not safe. They are - by the hundreds of millions - threatened every day with being enslaved, imprisoned, beaten, raped, and robbed. (17)

The way our world works, poor people - by virtue of their poverty - are not only vulnerable to hunger, disease, homelessness, illiteracy, and a lack of opportunity; they are also vulnerable to violence. Violence is as much a part of what it means to be poor as being hungry, sick, homeless, or jobless. In fact, as we shall see, violence is frequently the problem that poor people are most concerned about. It is one of the core reasons they are poor in the first place, and one of the primary reasons they stay poor. Indeed, we will simply never be able to win the battle against extreme poverty unless we address it. (43)

It is a very untidy thought to realize that there is actually a vast business of rape for profit in the world - but such is the meanness of human nature and the world as it actually is. Every day in the world, there are millions of rapes and acts of sexual molestation that take place for money - as a commercial transaction. Every day there are millions of people (mostly women and girls, and some boys) who are raped or sexually molested (i.e., compelled by force or by the threat of force to endure a sexual act to which they would not otherwise have consented) as part of a commercial transaction. Every day there are many more millions who pay for these rapes and sexual assaults, and hundreds of thousands of people who facilitate it and profit from it. (57)

"Blaming 'poverty' for crimes like this is convenient - it seems to make trafficking a problem 'beyond our control.' But I strongly believe that poverty is just one of the factors that makes people vulnerable to being trafficked - and that trafficking still exists because an effective public justice system doesn't in my country." (67, Melita, IJM staff member in India)

"Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery," [Abraham] Lincoln said, "I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally."
I don't ever hear anyone arguing for slavery, but I do hear people belittling forced labor conditions that involve indebtedness as "not really slavery." And in such moments, I likewise feel a strong impulse to see it tried on them personally to see if it alters their view at all. I am absolutely sure that if the skeptic should personally find himself in circumstances of bonded labor, he would find two things: 1) he would never be able to extricate himself from his bondage without outside intervention, and 2) he would no longer be a skeptic that bonded labor was slavery. (71)

Leaders from the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) have concluded, "Poor people want to feel safe and secure just as much as they need food to eat, clean water to drink and a job to give them an income. Without security there cannot be development." (99)

As Erika George of Human Rights Watch put it, "Girls are learning that sexual violence and abuse are an inescapable part of going to school every day - so they don't go." Sometimes, as a World Bank study found in Zambia, it is the teachers who are afraid to go to school because they are scared of the violence in their poor communities. (103)

Two generations of global human rights work have been predicated, consciously or unconsciously, upon assumptions about functioning public justice systems in the developing world, which, if incorrect, effectively gut the usefulness of those efforts for victims of common criminal violence. Absent an effective enforcement mechanism, the great work of the first two generations of the modern human rights movement will deliver to the world's poorest citizens only empty parchment promises. (169)

For the poorest and most vulnerable in the developing world, the foreign language of the post-colonial justice system is yet another crippling disadvantage in trying to leverage some protection against the forces of violence and abuse that are arrayed against them. From the very moment the first syllable is uttered in the arena of the criminal justice system, the common poor are rendered deaf and mute. As Michael Anderson has well described, "That the law is transacted in a foreign language, and often a language associated with the injustice of colonial rule, is doubly alienating for those who have no access to it." (184)

We have come to see with some urgency that criminal justice systems are indispensable for the poor, and we know from history that it's possible to build them. But we also know that building them is difficult, costly, dangerous, and unlikely. What we need, therefore, are bold projects of hope: projects of transformation that bring real change, that teach us, and that inspire hope - because the vulnerable poor need all three. (241)

Indeed, the critical question of our era is before us. At this historic inflection point in the struggle against severe poverty, are we prepared to do something different? Are we prepared to honestly acknowledge that the abandonment of criminal justice systems in the developing world has been a disaster? And are we prepared to leverage what we now know to finally begin securing for the poor that safe passage out of the violence that history tells us is both indispensable and possible? (275)

[James (JD) Dittes · Rating 4 out of 5]

The world needs more lawyers.

Did I just write that?

You can really tell when you're under the influence of a pretty impressive book when ridiculous notions like these enter your head. Yet that's exactly how I felt when I finished The Locust Effect.

The book is very graphic. The anecdotes that Haugen begins with--of murder, of loss of property, of slavery & abuse--are terrible to read (or listen to, as the case may be), but they are a great set up for the rest of the book, which is comparatively dry and focused on specific explanations for endemic violence in developing countries.

I felt that the 3rd quarter of the book dragged a little, with some redundancies and dry facts, but the tale picked up as Haugen went into the histories of the United States and Japan to show how corrupt justice systems evolved competence.

In the final pages, Haugen returns to the story of one victim of rape & murder and shows how International Justice Mission was able to bring justice into the community, the state and the nation where Yuri was murdered. It's worth listening to the end to learn this and experience what real justice can look like.

[Naum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this really wrecked me, at least the first three quarters or so, where Haugen shares some horrific stories of injustice. In the developed world, our justice system might be flawed, and still there is great inequality -- but in other parts of the world, the justice system acts as a full blown agent of the "bad guys". Corruption flourishes and the rich are impervious to ramifications of any heinous acts committed.

A great deal of effort by the developed world is expended in anti-poverty campaigns, but these are just misguided ineffective window dressing attempts unless the larger issue of justice is addressed, according to Haugen.

Haugen concludes the book by explaining that even in developed regions of the world, our justice system were once broken in the same ways, but that we've remedied the major ills as our system of governance progressed into the modern age. And he gives some success stories of modern day turnabouts in the developed world.

[Femi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is a jarring introduction to the violence faced by many poor people in developing countries. Haugen uses personal stories and research to illustrate the magnitude of the problem. It is painful to know and nearly impossible to forget. He explains how the justice system, or lack thereof, contributes to the violence in the poor communities worldwide. A smaller than expected section of the book is dedicated to discussing the strategies that are working to address violence by reforming the justice system. I would have liked to know a bit more about those organizations and initiatives and the lessons they have learned through their work about sustaining the progress that they have made. While I appreciate the book for bringing attention to this issue, I have to admit that I was annoyed by multiple typos.