Lirio Gutiérrez Rivera is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. She studied political science (Freie Universität Berlin) and anthropology (Universidad de los Andes). ​Her research addresses urban violence, contemporary prisons, youth gangs, social mobility, and state responses to crime and violence in Latin America, particularly Honduras and Colombia. She is currently working on two research projects: one about​ gender and urban planning in Medellin, Colombia, and a second based on her work as an expert witness for Central Americans seeking asylum in the United States. Her book, Territories of Violence: State, Marginal Youth, and Public Security, was published in 2013.