Barbados is gearing up to roll out an anti-crime master plan, early in the new year, that will tackle youth deviance and reduce the risks of emerging crimes through a data-driven, action-oriented approach, Minister in the Attorney General’s Office with responsibility for Crime Prevention Corey Lane said Friday.
Lane described the National Crime Prevention Plan as a comprehensive, transformative framework designed to address critical social issues and strengthen community resilience.
He told Barbados TODAY the draft plan was awaiting the green light from the attorney general before it could be rolled out, stressing that it aimed to significantly impact society by reducing the risks of emerging crimes.
“The National Crime Prevention Plan has been completed and is with the attorney general for review, so I am waiting for his comments before we can release it,” Lane said.
Early last month, the minister announced that the plan would come on stream by year-end and was an updated compilation of various crime prevention programmes, policies, legal frameworks, and research surrounding youth development, crime, and mental health.
He said it was a document he and his team worked on over the past several years to tackle deviant behaviour among the youth head-on.
The National Crime Prevention Plan will see several government departments, state agencies, and ministries working together to address some of the critical issues affecting young people.
Lane said: “The key things I can talk about that will hopefully be approved are . . . all of the suggestions that the Barbados sociologists, psychologists, and criminologists have been calling for of late and over the last 30 years. What it has done is collate a lot of the recommendations going as far back as Dr Bradley Niles and as recent as Professor Dwayne Devonish. It is very implementation-focused.
“A lot of work that was done in the past focused on statistics and pointing out what the problems are and making recommendations. This plan speaks to the doing part. Like the past, it is focused on data-driven research from the Criminal Justice Planning Unit and providing up-to-date information up to November 2024, which helps us look at what to target, who to target, when to target, how to target.”
The minister acknowledged there was an implementation deficit affecting the island and he was pleased that this framework was structured in a way that made action a priority.
Emphasis will also be placed on developing and strengthening community-based initiatives.
He added: “Another key thing is the scale of the plan. Over the years, I believe we could have invested more in the youth, the community, and social activities. This plan calls for that, and it is determined to do so by having exciting, innovative, and adventurous programmes for the youth.
“I am extremely pleased with what we, the stakeholders, drafted. I am absolutely confident that if this is approved and implemented, we would see the sort of transformation that every Barbados-loving person can be really proud of. The plan is comprehensive. Anything you can think of that is positive and wholesome, it would be hard to not find it in the plan. It uses a ‘scatter-shot and laser focus’ approach, covering a lot of creative and wholesome programmes.”
Asked if there would be a large budget to facilitate the many activities involved, Lane said: “The greater cost is really the cost of not doing it. What I like about the draft plan is that it calls for great investment, and it is not about cost and spend. One of the approaches that we have used over the past five years, and will continue to do so, is calling on the collective resources of the society. It is not just the taxpayers through the government but philanthropists, corporate Barbados, high-net-worth individuals, civil society, churches, faith-based organisations pooling resources to make it happen.”
The minister added that members of the public will be able to access the document virtually and through various public forums once it is approved.
The average age of people accused of murder over the past six months was 17 to 18 and the average age of individuals involved in gun-related murders was 16, the director of the Criminal Justice Research and Planning Unit, Cheryl Willoughby, revealed last month.
In response to her comments, United Nations child rights expert Faith Marshall-Harris said Barbados needed an urgent and major intervention to address the rise in organised crime, which had seen an increase in the recruitment of children. She said there is a worrying trend of gang leaders targeting younger recruits to smuggle drugs, transport guns, and even commit murder.
sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb
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