Citing data from his 2008 thesis entitled Poverty and Violence: A study of select inner-city communities in Jamaica and Britain, he noted that here in Jamaica, this has also been the case. The increase
in murders from 152 in 1970 to 232 in 1973 — following the general elections of 1972 — for example, prompted the passage of the Suppression of Crime Act in 1974, giving police extra common law powers of detention. By 1978, murders were up to 381.