Crime in Guyana is investigated by Guyana's police.

Crime by type

Murder

In the 20th century, crime in Guyana was not properly documented, however the country was known to be extremely dangerous and violent. The chart below shows the Guyanese homicide rate from 1990 until 2020, where Guyana reported a peak intentional homicide rate of 28 murders per 100,000 in 2003 and a low of 10 murders per 100,000 in 2000. The 20 murders per 100,000 reported in 2020, was the fourth highest murder rate in South America and the sixth highest in Caricom.

Domestic violence

Domestic violence is a problem in all

regions of Guyana Guyana is divided into 10 Regions: Each Region is administered by a Regional Democratic Council (RDC) which is headed by a Chairman. The Regions are divided into neighbourhood councils, known as Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs). The c ...

. Enforcement of the domestic violence laws is especially weak in the interior, where police do not have as strong a presence and courts meet only once a quarter.Report on Human Rights Practices 2006: Guyana

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Affairs (DRL) is a bureau within the United States Department of State. The bureau is under the purview of the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights. DRL's res ...

(March 6, 2007). ''This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

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NGOs A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

report a widespread perception that some police officers and magistrates could be bribed to make cases of domestic violence "go away." The government also does not prosecute cases in which the alleged victim or victim's family agreed to drop the case in exchange for a monetary payment

out of court In law, a settlement is a resolution between disputing parties about a legal case, reached either before or after court action begins. A collective settlement is a settlement of multiple similar legal cases. The term also has other meanings in ...

. NGOs assert the need for a specialized Family Court.

Robbery

Armed robberies occur regularly, especially in businesses and shopping districts, especially in the capital Georgetown."Guyana 2014 Crime and Safety Report", Overseas Security Advisory Council, US State Department, 15 August 2014.
/ref> Nationally, there were 512 robberies under arms during the period January to October 2012 (a 15% increase from 2011)."Guyana travel advice - Safety and security", United Kingdom Government foreign travel advice.
/ref>

By location

Georgetown

In Georgetown, high crime areas include Tiger Bay, Albouystown, Sophia, all of south Georgetown,

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level. Robberies are a daily occurrence in the Stabroek Market area. A number of assaults have taken place in the Botanic Gardens.

References

{{Americas topic, Crime in