ABSTRACT
For some time, the Caribbean has been experiencing increases in levels of crime leading to considerable concern among citizens and policy makers. This has been accompanied too, by changes in the nature of crime experienced across the region. The nature of crime in the Caribbean, therefore, has helped to shape the research agenda of Caribbean criminology such that it has thus far been characterised primarily by research examining the trends. Simply put, as a discipline, the field of post-colonial studies refers to an examination of the consequences of imperial or colonial rule. Unpacking the concept further however, is a somewhat challenging undertaking. The critical aftermath of colonialism has had considerable and ongoing cultural effects both on the colonisers, as well as the formerly colonised. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book addresses the current dearth of Caribbean criminological literature in the two critical areas - gender and post-colonialism.
