Cape Internal Assessment
[LECTURE 4. SALI 6106, 2012] 1
Crime is a deviant act. Definitions of crime are society and time specific. Crime is unacceptable and most societies are eager to stamp out crime. Please also consult: Deosaran Ramesh (2007) Crime, Delinquency and Justice, Ian Randle Publishers. Muncie, John & David Wilson (2004) Student Handbook on Criminal Justice and Criminology Cavendish Publishing What is crime? What are the various types of crime? There are both violent and non-violent crimes. Class Discussion: Can you provide examples of both types of crime? Describe the crime situation in your country. What are the major crime problems?
Causes of crime
Please remember theories of deviance that we discussed earlier Discussions on the causes of crime in Jamaica tend to focus on two types of explanations: Economic Political Crime and the economy Most commentators see forces at work in the 1970s as precipitating the upsurge of violent criminal activity in the island, and to Headley (1996) the defining events were: The decline in agriculture Failure of bauxite and tourism to absorb displaced workers
Result: The large pool of unemployed, unskilled youths had to find alternative, often illegal, means of surviving. Crime, was the response to material conditions inherent in economic dispossession and general helplessness. It is not a violent subculture, he stressed, but the need to exist in a society where survival is not assured by other collective means. (Headley, 1996). Poverty
Poverty and unemployment in the island had robbed the poor of the legal means of gaining a livelihood and had reduced the opportunity cost of engaging in crime. A number of factors were highlighted as the cause: The Report of the Committee on Political Tribalism (1997) pointed to the cumulative effects of the protracted period of economic decline during which population growth had outstripped job creation and in which the education system had failed to produce young people with the skills to
Crime is a deviant act. Definitions of crime are society and time specific. Crime is unacceptable and most societies are eager to stamp out crime. Please also consult: Deosaran Ramesh (2007) Crime, Delinquency and Justice, Ian Randle Publishers. Muncie, John & David Wilson (2004) Student Handbook on Criminal Justice and Criminology Cavendish Publishing What is crime? What are the various types of crime? There are both violent and non-violent crimes. Class Discussion: Can you provide examples of both types of crime? Describe the crime situation in your country. What are the major crime problems?
Causes of crime
Please remember theories of deviance that we discussed earlier Discussions on the causes of crime in Jamaica tend to focus on two types of explanations: Economic Political Crime and the economy Most commentators see forces at work in the 1970s as precipitating the upsurge of violent criminal activity in the island, and to Headley (1996) the defining events were: The decline in agriculture Failure of bauxite and tourism to absorb displaced workers
Result: The large pool of unemployed, unskilled youths had to find alternative, often illegal, means of surviving. Crime, was the response to material conditions inherent in economic dispossession and general helplessness. It is not a violent subculture, he stressed, but the need to exist in a society where survival is not assured by other collective means. (Headley, 1996). Poverty
Poverty and unemployment in the island had robbed the poor of the legal means of gaining a livelihood and had reduced the opportunity cost of engaging in crime. A number of factors were highlighted as the cause: The Report of the Committee on Political Tribalism (1997) pointed to the cumulative effects of the protracted period of economic decline during which population growth had outstripped job creation and in which the education system had failed to produce young people with the skills to