Institute of Criminal Justice and Security

Access

Improving the quality, quantity and impact of research, innovation and publication

• Volume 2, Issue 1 of the Caribbean Journal of Criminology published: The issue explored areas of concern in crime and justice across ten Caribbean countries. Specifically, Jamaica’s attempts to curb illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing; the link between exposure to family violence, low self-control and perpetration of bullying in schools in Trinidadian society; the status of youth incarceration across nine Caribbean nations; and how justice can be delivered more efficiently using productivity and time lag metrics. The CJC, a publication of the Institute, is a multi-disciplinary, peer-reviewed journal, and is the sole journal of criminology located within the region.
• Caribbean working group on Crime & COVID-19 continued its work: The Caribbean working group, convened by the Institute, continued its work to analyse crime trends throughout the period of the pandemic. The multi-country effort includes researchers from Barbados, Trinidad, Jamaica, Saint Lucia and George Mason University (USA). The work was handicapped by the untimely receipt of crime statistics from the countries under study. In some instances no data was received (in the case of Barbados and Saint Lucia) and those countries were removed from the study. Results from this collaboration are expected to be published in 2022.
• Policy surrounding violence reduction programmes in Jamaica assessed by the Institute and its international partner: In 2019 the Government of Jamaica, along with key private sector actors and other NGOs, agreed on measures necessary for crime control and reduction, now known as the National Consensus on Crime. To aid the work under this national agreement, ICJS Research Fellow and former Director, along with researchers from the Global Initiative Against-Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC), conducted a comparative review of key social intervention programmes geared at violence reduction in Jamaica, Africa, the United States and Latin America. A policy report, “Actioning Social Interventions in the National Crime Consensus”, was prepared and presented to the Jamaica National Crime Consensus group in May 2021.
• Latin America Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) comparative report on governance and key social issues published. The report, “The Political Culture of Democracy in Jamaica and in the Americas, 2018/2019: Taking the Pulse of Democracy”, was financed and published by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in December 2020. The Institute’s director led the investigative team. Amongst the areas probed were citizens’ satisfaction with essential public services (including policing); level of cyber activity amongst citizens and tolerance of a military takeover of the government (military coup). This public opinion project is vital as it informs discussions on the quality and strength of democracy and governance in the region.

Alignment

Promote greater activism and public advocacy

• UWI Researcher contributes to the development of a Global Organised Crime Index: Between February and March 2021, ICJS Research Fellow joined a group of Caribbean experts for the review of the Global Organised Crime (GOC) Index. The GOC Index is the first tool of its kind engineered to measure levels of organised crime and resilience to organised criminal activity. The Research Fellow, in reviewing 11 Caribbean countries, gave specific insight regarding how state structures in the Leeward Islands can be more resilient and effective in combatting organised crime.
• Violence reduction and crime control – an advocacy imperative for the Institute: Considerable support was given to the Government of Jamaica through its National Commission on Violence Prevention. Members of the Commission, which includes the Director of the ICJS, spent the past year developing a mid-term plan to address societal norms that appear to support the use of violence to settle disputes. Appointed by the Prime Minister as an advisory body to the government, the Commission’s mandate is to evaluate all violence prevention programmes and determine their effectiveness.
• UWI Director gives continued service to police governance and oversight bodies: The Institute’s director served as a member of the Police Service Commission (PSC), an organ that forms part of the police governance structure, and is responsible for senior appointments and recommendations on disciplinary proceedings in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). He also continued to serve on the Police Oversight Authority (PCOA), a body established under the Ministry of National Security to ensure observance of proper policing standards. Both the PSC and the PCOA are useful sites for helping to bring about police transformation.

Increase and improve academic/industry research partnerships

• The UWI co-delivers Restorative Justice training alongside government ministry: In line with the strategic ideals of The UWI for greater partnership and activism with industries and governments, ICJS responded positively to a request from the Ministry of Justice Jamaica to assist with the strengthening of its restorative justice (RJ) programme. During the past academic year, the first virtual joint-delivery of the facilitator training course was launched.