Youth-involved crimes are likely to increase if governments do not invest more in their probation department and parole officers.
Chairman of the Caribbean Association of Probation and Parole Cuthbert Henry made observation recently while pointing out that policing alone would not solve the issue.
“Whilst we keep increasing police forces and not paying attention to areas like probation, we will continue to have an increase in youth crime. “We must invest in probation and parole personnel to assist with areas like diversion and areas of intervention for young persons.
“We are professionals, we know what the landscape is, and there must be significantly more investment from all governments in the Caribbean,” Henry said.
He was speaking at the association’s probation assessment tools workshop, at the United Nations House in Marine Gardens, Christ Church.
While acknowledging that some may see the call as a way to put more pressure on the public’s expenses, he said traditional crime management strategies would not work alone.
“It’s not a plug to balloon the public service, but we need to really understand that classical management of crime by increasing police forces, has not worked, and it will not work, especially with the type of youth that we are developing in our countries and there is research to show that.
“So there must be a balance of classical crime reduction via classical policing and the softer side of things,” he said.
While assessing the ratio in some countries, he suggested the increase would be an asset to other improvements recently been made.
“You have countries that have two probation officers with a population of 100 000 people. You have countries that have almost 200 000 persons, and you have a population of seven probation officers, so it just doesn’t work.
“We’ve increased the courts, asked for more judges to fast track things. We’ve changed laws and implemented areas like a Child Justice Bill and we look at Alternative Dispute Resolution.
“However there must be an increased level of investment in the human resource capacities, and the technical capacities of probation and parole services,” he added.
The workshop is part of a four-day hybrid conference to launch the Caribbean Association of Probation and Parole.
This week the Barbados Probation Service, in partnership with CariSECURE 2.0, hosted two days of the workshop aimed at strengthening probation systems and improving citizen security across the Caribbean.
The workshop will culminate with creating a draft framework for probation assessment tools, tailored to the region’s needs.
The initiative is expected to improve how probation officers assess individuals and provide tailored support for their rehabilitation, contributing to safer communities.
Criminal justice experts, academic institutions, and childcare services attended the workshop.
Areas such as trauma-informed assessments for juvenile offenders, the development of risk assessment tools for sexual offences, and strategies for ensuring cultural fit and adaptation of these tools in different Caribbean contexts were covered.
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