This means that there is a critical imperative for us, as a region, to focus on developing and implementing youth focused strategies aimed at promoting social justice and attaining equity and inclusion in education and employment.
Our central focus has to be on those of our young people who are most vulnerable and living at the margins of our society. We have an obligation to bring them into the mainstream. Moreover, we should be particularly concerned with those who are vulnerable to involvement in crime and violence, both as victims and perpetrators. Common risk factors include: poverty, unemployment, lack of access to educational opportunities, the proliferation of guns, drug trafficking, unsafe neighborhoods, poor criminal justice responses, dysfunctional family relations and peer groups.
Over the past two decades crime and violence have become paramount challenges for the Region, in particular, the escalation of homicide rates has been a major cause for concern and has preoccupied our national agendas. An annual average of 30 homicides per 100,000 persons across the region is three times the world average and six times that of North America. In some member countries, such as Jamaica, the homicide rate is double the regional average. Overwhelmingly, young men in Jamaica between the ages of 15 and 29 years are the main perpetrators and victims of criminal activities. This is seen also in St Kitts and Nevis and St Lucia. In Trinidad and Tobago, for example, more than half of the victims of fatal firearm assaults are males 15 to 34 years old.
Much of the violence and criminality evidenced in our nations is underlined by the emergence of numerous gangs; consequently, gang related violence threatens the safety and security of our communities. These gangs are largely fueled by the transnational trade in narcotics and guns. By far, this is one of the most serious risk factors endangering the welfare of our communities, especially, the lives of young people who are currently not engaged in productive activities in education, training or employment. The large number of unattached young men in urban inner city communities between the ages of 15 and 29 years, represents a hub of recruitment for notorious gangs. To a large extent, this explains how some young people have become enmeshed in practices of criminality.
Unfortunately, the entire region is affected. We have all seen the proliferation of illegal firearms and ammunition, much of which are from the proceeds of sale of illegal drugs in North America. These small arms and light weapons are vital elements in the criminal architecture in our region and are largely in the hands of young men who are at the margins of the society, having low levels of education and poor prospects for generating legitimate income. Because of their sense of being disposed and marginalized and alienated from society, most are willing to use these firearms as the expression of their aggression to protect drug and extortion turfs. On average more than seventy per cent (70%) of homicides in the region are committed using illegal firearms.
That the impact is most clearly felt in urban inner city communities among young males is not surprising as the conflation of poverty and neighborhood disadvantage propels young people into criminality and violence. This undermines the development of social capital and limits the future social and economic development of our nations. We invariably pay a steep price, both economic and social, for the actions of these young people.
The economic cost of crime and violence among our youth represents substantial opportunity costs in terms of the loss of returns on investment in human capital. In 2006, the loss of productivity due to interpersonal violence in Jamaica accounted for approximately 4% of GDP. In a period, when the governments of the region are challenged to operate within tight fiscal spaces in order to maintain and promote macro-economic stability and to stimulate economic growth and development, the escalation of crime and violence places severe pressure on budgets and adversely affects direct investment needed to increase production and create employment.
Similarly, the social cost of crime is seen most in the spread of anti-social and disruptive behaviors which undermine public safety and raise the fear of becoming victims of crime.
Moreover, the lack of viable economic options has led to recourse to illegal alternatives in order to generate income. In Jamaica, we have seen this in the operations of the lottery scam, the enormity of illegitimate profits and connected conflicts have resulted in grave loss of life.
The obvious shift in values and norms from meritocracy to expectation of instant wealth, through cunning and fraud, is destabilizing the very fabric of our society.
Given the ease with which such incidents spread across the region, it is therefore incumbent on us to seek appropriate strategies to counter the effect.
Youth Focused Crime Prevention: Development and Participation as Social Justice
Conventional approaches to dealing with young people are often based on media constructions of them as “problems” – who seek to disrupt the status quo and destabilize the natural order of society. As a result we traditionally employ a deficit approach in our dealings with them. However, our Declaration at Paramaribo, is set to reverse this trend by using the underlying assumption that young people can indeed address the causes and assist in the prevention of crime and violence.
1. What has worked in youth focused crime prevention?
• The Citizen Security and Justice Programme in volatile and vulnerable communities in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. Youth participation in the development and establishment of Community Based Organizations has been empowering hard to reach young people. The programmes emphasize the strengthening of life skills among young people, using a graduated approach to introduce many into vocational training programmes, internship and eventually job placement.
• Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme in Barbados (YES) fosters an entrepreneurial climate by encouraging youth to create successful and sustainable business ventures. Young people between 18 and 35 years are coached in a range of skills in business development and marketing, they are mentored, given technical assistance as well as referral for financing.
• Integrated, Multi-Sectoral Community Based Interventions which target youth and their families, especially, those most hard-to-reach, and largely underserved. The aim is to address risk factors at all levels, provide joined-up approaches to basic service delivery, including, health, education, juvenile justice, welfare services and access to community-based organizations and the private sector. This approach has proven beneficial in addressing the complex needs of young people living with disadvantages.
• Youth Diversion and Re-integration, effective approaches to diverting young people away from involvement in gangs and participation in illegal schemes. In Jamaica, we are currently developing a Youth Offender Strategy to provide the framework to ensure that preventive measures are in place to reach young people before they are drawn into criminality. Importantly, the strategy will also seek to ensure that young people who have been in conflict with the law are provided with effective services to help re-integrate them into society.
• Juvenile Justice. We are clear that enhancing the justice processes are crucial to fostering confidence among young people who often feel alienated and displaced by the outcomes of the Justice System. There has to be a clear emphasis on pursuing alternatives to custodial sentences, especially for first time offenders.
Understanding the complexity and range of youth involvement is vital to finding sustainable, long term interventions. Importantly, solutions should involve youth participation in development and implementation. It is worth noting that our greatest opportunity to reduce crime and violence in our countries is through concerted focus on mitigating the factors that give rise to such unsocial behaviour.
In conclusion, it is uncontested that we have to do something, and the time is now! This Caribbean-US dialogue provides a very timely opportunity. Colleagues, let us forge ahead with improving the opportunities for our youth as this can only augur well for improving the social and economic development of the region.
Thank you.
