NCJ Number
171406
Date Published
1996
Length
126 pages
Annotation
The author looks at crime in Jamaica in terms of such factors as plantation slavery, protracted colonialism, and continued economic dependency and supports an approach to crime prevention that is based on social and economic justice and the rehabilitation of individuals in the interest of the common good.
Abstract
In the first chapter of the book, the author identifies predatory crimes that plague Jamaican society, impede development, and have short-term structural consequences. In the second chapter, the author contends criminal elements in Jamaica have resulted from historical contradictions of the country's social and economic systems and from vagaries of the country's national political culture. The third chapter presents an empirical study that shows Jamaican crime is the result of too many people being denied the rewards of the country's independence. The next two chapters present recommendations on how to achieve greater social justice and how to effectively administer law enforcement and punishment. These recommendations focus on reducing the military, applying the law equally, adopting community policing, reforming the criminal justice system, reinforcing drug demand reduction, placing greater emphasis on rehabilitation and education in prisons, dealing with prison overcrowding, reshaping popular attitudes toward criminals, and abolishing the death penalty. The final chapter looks at some of the deeper cultural forces that have nurtured the myth and the aura of Jamaica's most feared "thugs and badmen" and focuses on social inequalities. 153 notes and 4 tables