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Article Information:
Murder and Politics in Jamaica: A Historical Quantitative Analysis, 1970-2009
Paul Andrew Bourne, Damion K. Blake, Charlene Sharpe-Pryce and Ikhalfani Solan
Corresponding Author: Paul A. Bourne
Submitted: January 26, 2012
Accepted: March 02, 2012
Published: June 25, 2012 |
Abstract:
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The electoral process in Jamaica has been uninterrupted since 1944. Two major political parties, the
People’s National Party (PNP) and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) have dominated the process of competing
for the loyalty, affection and the votes of the populace. In a bid to exercise and/or capture the franchise of the
electorate, violence and bloodshed have marred the electoral process. This study: 1) examines the murders
during the governance of each political party in Jamaica from 1970 to 2009; and 2) explores patterns and
distribution of murders over four decades. The current study uses secondary data from various Jamaican
government publications, namely the Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions, Statistical Digest, Jamaica
Constabulary Force and Economic and Social Survey of Jamaica. Between 1969 and 2010, on average 722±
453 (95%CI: 575-869) Jamaicans were murdered annually. Comparatively, there were 762±431 people
murdered during the time the People’s National Party (PNP) governed Jamaica to 631±507 in the tenure of the
Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), which was not statistically different (t-test = 0.830, 0.412). However, the average
number of murders in each decade (1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s) was statistically different (F-statistic = 55.071,
p<0.0001). The probability of being murdered in the 1970s was 0.09 compared to 0.16 in the 1980s, 0.27 in the
1990s and 0.48 in 2000s. The number of people murdered during the tenure of each political administration
shows no statistical difference, which indicates that neither of the two political parties as a single variable can
take credit for a lower murder rate. It also strongly forecasts the urgency needed to address the increased rate
of murder experienced since 2000 in Jamaica.
Key words: Inequality, Jamaica, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), maldistribution of income, murder, political administration, People’s National Party (PNP), politics, power relations
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Cite this Reference:
Paul Andrew Bourne, Damion K. Blake, Charlene Sharpe-Pryce and Ikhalfani Solan, . Murder and Politics in Jamaica: A Historical Quantitative Analysis, 1970-2009. Asian Journal of Business Management, (3): 233-251.
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ISSN (Online): 2041-8752
ISSN (Print): 2041-8744 |
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