Insights into the Nature and Spatial Distribution of Guyanese Crime

Abstract

Violent crime continues to plague Latin American societies, but reporting is not uniform across the region. Here we examine crime for Guyana, a country lacking coverage in the literature, using unofficial data. Newspaper archives for the month of January over the period 1997–2016 were used to describe several factors, including the rate of violent crime, crime’s spatial distribution, and its relationship to gold prices. More than 82% of Guyanese crimes were violent and most occurred along coastal Guyana. The numbers of crimes fluctuated as gold prices changed. Like other Latin American states, Guyana also has a violent crime challenge.