In post-colonial countries such as Guyana, the legacy of colonialism and its influence on policing and society is of crucial significance in developing an explanation for police violence and police-caused homicide. Mars applies a contextual approach, grounded in the conflict theoretical perspective, to explain and understand variations in police violence over time, and she extends her study to include the social, political, and legal structure in which such actions are embedded. Her findings support the notion that police violence is a function of decades of coercive state rule under...