Unit taking note of changing face of crime

THE Criminal Justice Research and Planning Unit (CJRPU) is taking note of the changing face of crime in Barbados and the methods being used to address it.

 

Director of the Criminal Justice Research and Planning Unit (CJRPU), Cheryl Willoughby, noted recently that her department has been tracing the evolution of the criminal justice system in Barbados over the last 50 years and since the Unit’s establishment, it has been conducting research that can prove valuable in informing the decision-making process of key policymakers.

 

“No longer are our policymakers making decisions based on anecdotal information. They are now gathering their information based on empirical data, obtained from our Department, with regard to crime,” Willoughby pointed out.

 

“If you want to know how many persons committed homicides over a five-year period, what are the demographics of persons who are committing certain aspects of crime, what is the recidivism rate of crime in Barbados, that is information that you can get from our department and in doing so, you are able to put together your research projects,” Willoughby stated.

 

The director, meanwhile, noted that she is looking forward to the country moving in a direction where more science is used to solve crime.

 

“If you look at our justice model for example, we are moving more away from a punitive justice model, more towards a restorative justice model. We are seeing developments in the area of policing, where we are seeing more science being used, more equipment and technology being used, in order to detect criminal activity,” she said.

 

“I look forward to Barbados moving in that direction, to the point where we no longer rely on information garnered from criminals themselves, but we use technology, we use CCTV and we use science to solve crime, because certainly, if you look at Barbados from the perspective of a criminologist, you would recognise that the nature of crime has changed as well. Crime has become more complex and as we have free movement across the Caribbean and beyond the region, you will recognise that persons can access Barbados easily and commit crime and move on and so we need now to have more connectivity in terms of what we do and be more science driven, in seeking answers to some of our problems,” Willoughby said.

 

Her comments came recently as the Criminal Justice Research and Planning Unit held a career showcase for secondary school students at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, to educate them about the types of careers available to them within the criminal justice system. (RSM)