NCJ Number
137674
Date Published
1991
Length
311 pages
Annotation
Believing that special features of Third World crime, such as underdevelopment and dependency, are largely ignored in criminological literature, the author adopted a structuralist framework for the explanation of socioeconomic, sociodemographic, and crime linkages observed during 35 years of crime increase in Jamaica.
Abstract
Macro-indicators selected for the study after perusal of the available statistical records were economic (unemployment, gross domestic product, and food price index); sociodemographic (rate of arrest, number of registered police, and age cohort); and crime (all crimes reported to the police, shooting with intent, robbery, and burglary). Data were obtained from Jamaican government publications. The study used a statistical analysis approach that did not rely on the borrowed sophistication of time-series analysis. Instead it used simple correlational analysis, with extensions built in to test primary observations of associations between variables. These procedures were applied to three sets of data: all Jamaica, 1953-84; rural Jamaica, 1953-84; and all Jamaica (crisis period), 1972-84. The study found that the population's age structure was the most important single factor that accounted for the increase in criminal violence (robbery and shooting with intent). The recording capacity of the police was the most important single factor that accounted for the increase in property crime (burglary). The decline in the growth of the economy (gross domestic product) was the most important factor that accounted for the increase in overall crime (total crime reported). Implications of these findings are discussed. 75 tables, 2 figures, and a 243-item bibliography