Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

The paper analyzes the process for decision making at Nuevo Leon´s government institutions regarding crime prevention policies. The theoretical framework for the analysis includes the 4 decision making models regarding public policy developed by Harold Lasswell (Rational Model), Herbert Simon (Limited Rationality Model), Charles Lindblom (Incremental Model), and James March, Johan Olsen and Michael Cohen (Garbage Can Model). The paper also takes into consideration the argument of Luis F. Aguilar regarding what he calls the “Government of Government” and its relation to the relevance of studying the decision making process regarding crime and violence prevention. The paper bases its analysis on the case study methodology and uses profound interviews, focus groups, participant observation and document review. The hypothesis is that the decision making process regarding crime and violence prevention policies has responded more to a model where the federal government provides a solution that afterwards looks for a problem to solve at the local level, which is more closely related to the Garbage Can Model, than to a rational process like the one suggested by Laswell or Simon. This affects the change theory behind the crime and violence prevention programs implemented at the local level of government and therefore their impact.