Barriers to reintegration being assessed

Research critical

THE Criminal Justice and Research Planning Unit (CJRPU) is carrying out research into the barriers to reintegration for ex-offenders.

So says Director, Cheryl Willoughby, whose comments came recently as she highlighted some of the critical research that is being carried out by that organisation.
 
According to Willoughby, “We determine that due to our high recidivism rate, that is repeat offending, we realise that there must be issues at the community level preventing ex-offenders from reintegrating successfully into society.
 
“We did some research and we determined that substance abuse, the lack of opportunities for employment as well as mental health issues are contributing significantly to ex-offenders not being able to reintegrate or re-enter society without re-offending in a short space of time.”
 
Willoughby’s comments came as she highlighted the importance of research, particularly as it relates to informing programmes and policies.
 
“There is a lot to be done where research is concerned. And no longer can Barbados rely on anecdotal information – information that is not scientifically tested – to make decisions about legislation and programmes. So we must have evidence.
 
“Whether programming, legislation, intervention, it has to be led by concrete, strong and robust research, so it is a case where we are targeting specific populations with intervention programmes.”
 
The Director stressed the importance of part-nerships in this process. “As we continue to do our work, we will be partnering with several organisations in order to meet our desired objectives. We work very closely with the RBPF... it is the agency that collects data on a daily basis regarding crime.
 
“We also work closely with Madam Registrar (Barbara Cooke-Alleyne), because if cases are adjudicated we need to know the outcome in order to determine who is re-offending, the type of sentences being given and whether or not those sentences meet the offence that was committed, and whether or not persons out on bail or other issues are causing problems in the society,” she explained.
 
Willoughby says the CJRPU is also hoping to collect regular statistics from schools, in order to determine the problems of violence. “Who is committing those violent acts ... some of the demographics which should include the sex, age, neighbourhoods, whether or not persons within their households would have given problems in school...” she said. (JH)

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