NCJ Number
127438
Journal
International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice Volume: 14 Issue: 1-2 Dated: (Spring/Winter 1990) Pages: 317-344
Date Published
1990
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the crime control and social control function of the Jamaican Gun Control Act within a political and economic context. It applies the political economic/dependency theory to Jamaican firearm crime problems and reviews the societal response to it.
Abstract
It also explains the modernization theory which attributes crime in underdeveloped nations to the rapid industrialization and applies western criminological theories that focus on the individual and his immediate social context. The crime and dependency theory contends that the underdevelopment of the Third World began with European colonization through an exploitation of the natural resources and slave labor. Crime is then explained with reference to dependency and political economy. The article provides Jamaican historical and political antecedents and factors about Jamaican race, culture, and status in order to provide the context for understanding the governmental response to firearm crime through the Gun Court Act in the 1970's and early 1980's. 5 notes and 54 references (Author abstract modified)