It is argued that the conditions of dependency that have characterized Caribbean societies since they were created to serve European industrialization produced the urban criminal. Trapped in the slums, both the steel band 'warriors' and the 'rude boys' attempted to defy economic, psychic, social, and political barriers. The crime and delinquency of these groups can best be understood in terms of conflict theory. While fighting the economic constraints of everyday survival, they also were making an existential statement about society. The development of these groups derived from confrontation with the authorities, a redefinition of the illegal activity among the lumpenproletariat, and an awareness of oppression and exploitation. These factors seem to have produced a special type of proletarian class of antiauthoritarian warriors, hustlers, and scufflers. It was a class that chose to reject exclusion and exploitation by challenging and breaking established law. Thus, they found the means to express their autonomy within the domains of crime and delinquency; power was attained by means of their self-defined warfare. This warfare was not only for territorial sovereignty, but also for the expression of pride and the will to survive within the constraints imposed on them by their social class. 8 notes and 29 references.