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Past and present trends in gun violence and gangs and their implications in Belize, 2011-2020
Pitts, W. J., & Inkpen, C. (2021). Past and present trends in gun violence and gangs and their implications in Belize, 2011-2020. In W. Wallace (Ed.), Guns, gun violence and gun homicides: Perspectives from the Caribbean, Global South and beyond (pp. 211-228). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007%2F978-3-030-84518-6, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84518-6_9
Trending upwards since 2000, Belize consistently tops the list of countries with the highest homicide rates in the world. A report published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2009 outlined the detrimental effects of youth gangs in Belize and predicted that 6 percent of Belizeans were not expected to reach age 40. The availability of guns and pervasive gang involvement coupled with elevated school desertion rates and few employment opportunities for youth, Belize’s high homicide rate has hovered around 40 per 100,000 in recent years. According to Belizean authorities, territorial rivalries between gangs are the main driver of homicidal violence and account for an estimated 85 percent of all murders. This chapter considers gun and violence data from the Belize Crime Observatory from 2011-2020 and describes past and present trends in gun violence and gangs in postcolonial Belize.