Our Mission
InSight Crime is a think tank and media organization that seeks to deepen and inform the debate about organized crime and citizen security in the Americas by providing regular reporting, analysis, data, investigation, and policy suggestions on how to tackle the multiple challenges they present.
It does this by fusing investigative journalism with academic rigor, building its analysis from extensive ground research, which includes speaking to all the actors, legal and illegal. As well as its published work on this website, it works with a network of experts and partners in the region to provide bespoke risk analysis, diagnostics, and opportunities for positive intervention.
What Makes Us Different
Shaping the Debate
Each year, we hold conferences, launch investigations, conduct workshops, convene seminars and support local stakeholders to deepen the conversation around organized crime.
Explore InSight Crime Investigations
Virtual Newsroom
Our newsroom team is like no other – global, multilingual, and well-versed in the dynamics of organized crime. Although our main offices are in Washington, DC, and Medellín, Colombia, InSight Crime has personnel positioned in a half-dozen countries across the Americas and at any one time is doing research with multiple contributors in numerous others.
Explore InSight Crime News Analysis
On the Ground
Our investigators are in the field, from major cities to remote rural corners, reporting on the latest criminal dynamics, actors and hotspots, and gathering data to track the fast-changing illicit economies.
Explore InSight Crime Investigations
Monitoring
Every day, we scour hundreds of news outlets, academic journals, and governmental and non-governmental reports from across the Americas. The information collected forms the building blocks of the most comprehensive database on organized crime in the region.
Go-To Resource
We continually develop and update profiles of countries, criminal organizations and personalities from around the region. Highly organized with infographics and detailed maps, our profiles are a go-to resource for journalists, academics, civil society leaders, government officials, and others seeking to deepen their understanding of criminal dynamics in the Americas.
Academic Alliances
We partner with leading academic institutions across the region, such as American University’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies (CLALS), which has sponsored joint research initiatives, and the Universidad del Rosario, in Bogotá, which is home to our Colombian Organized Crime Observatory.
Our Team
Our staff of about 50 investigators working across the Americas and Europe includes reporters with years of experience on the ground; investigators with graduate degrees in Latin America, citizen security, and conflict studies; and experts in design, translation, and data analysis. We are a tight-knit team with a nerdy edge and a taste for high-risk environments. Despite our diverse backgrounds, we are bound by an abiding belief that exposing organized crime is critical to dismantling it.
