ABSTRACT
This chapter explores women's drug trade participation dilemma in Jamaica. Jamaica's economic context and women's victimization can be seen as part of the underdevelopment of the Caribbean region. The chapter fills in part a gap in the literature in respect of drug offences of Jamaican females. It draws on feminization of poverty and underdevelopment theses and highlights some consequences of prohibitionist drug policies. The chapter suggests that the source country focus of US drug policies contribute to the underdevelopment of the Caribbean region. The chapter concludes with the recommendation that in order to develop policies to address increased female participation in drug crimes within the Caribbean region, ethnographic studies should be conducted with Jamaican females incarcerated in Jamaica and in foreign jurisdictions and female foreign nationals incarcerated in Jamaica. It provides some preliminary information on female offenders in Jamaica and situates the participation of Jamaican women in the drug trade within the general economic framework that disproportionately affects women.
