The Caribbean Crime Network

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Overview of Network

The Caribbean Crime Network comprises a group of academics committed to contributing to a Caribbean perspective of crime. As a result this network is presently engaged in a Caribbean wide research. The research is partly funded by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and it involves a multidisciplinary team of 11 scholars at U.W.I, St. Augustine campus and very soon will include other scholars from the Mona and Cave Hill campuses. Such a combination will pave the way for the establishment of the University’s Institute of Criminology which is a brain-child of the University’s Vice Chancellor.

One of the aims of this project is to collect statistical data on crime in every country in the Caribbean region. This is being accomplished via the first ever U.W.I. Caribbean Crime Survey. The main goal of the First U.W.I. Caribbean Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems is similar to the United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems. That is, to collect data on the incidence of reported crime and the operations of criminal justice systems with a view to improving the analysis and dissemination of that information throughout the world. The results of the Survey will provide an overview of crime trends and relationships between various parts of the criminal justice system and promote informed decision-making in administration, at the national, regional and international levels.

The data gathered by the First Survey will benefit the international community, the Caribbean region and each responding Government. The information will be used in determining crime trends and problem areas for intervention in the form of technical cooperation, in preparing reports such as a Caribbean Report on Crime and Justice and in comparing the crime situation in one country with that of another country in a similar position.

Therefore the Caribbean Crime Network along with the Caribbean Crime Survey promises to address the regional and international crime problem in positive ways.