NCJ Number
162713
Journal
Crime, Law and Social Change Volume: 23 Issue: 1 Dated: (1995) Pages: 17-40
Date Published
1995
Length
24 pages
Annotation
Violent crime in Colombia was assessed by focusing on police arrest data between 1938 and 1967, and social and political conditions providing the cultural context of modernization were examined.
Abstract
The study used Shelley's modernization perspective which claims violent crime increases when a country modernizes and property crime increases after relative wealth and prosperity are achieved. Regression analysis of police arrest data supported Shelley's perspective for the crimes of robbery and theft, whereas her theory garnered weaker support for the crimes of homicide and assault. Arrest rates in Colombia generally increased over time; the rate of increase for theft, robbery, and homicide exceeded Shelley's prediction of 2.5 percent but the rate of increase for assault was only 0.43 percent. Although homicide increased as expected over the 30-year period, it increased in a curvilinear fashion, meaning that changes may have been tied to political upheaval. Data also demonstrated that increases in property crime did not offset reductions in violent crime because the rate of violent crime exceeded that of property crime. Theoretical implications of the findings in Colombia for modernization theory are discussed. The history of violence in Colombia and previous research on modernization and crime are briefly reviewed. 60 references, 97 notes, and 11 tables