Lottery scamming as lucrative as it may seem, comes with the peril violence as any other illicit activity. In Montego Bay, murder and extreme violence are at crisis levels. The city is also the birthplace and centre of the lottery scamming industry and its offshoots, an industry that generates millions of U.S. dollars a year, and is thought to be connected to the high murder and shooting rates in St. James.

CAPRI in partnership with the UK’s Department for International Development, and with Joanna Callen as the Lead Researcher is undertaking a study which seeks to consider the purported nexus between lottery scamming, gangs, and the high murder rate in St. James by situating St. James’ violence problem in its socio-economic context, and review the measures that have been taken over the past decade to tackle both problems. Also, the study aims to provide stakeholders and decision-makers within and outside of the security apparatus with a complete, coherent, and relevant evidence-based picture of the situation, and policy recommendations based on the study’s findings.