More Research Into Youth and Crime Urged

We Transform programme director in the Ministry of Justice, Ella Ghartey, is urging researchers to conduct more studies as it relates to youth and crime.

Speaking with JIS News at the recent University of the West Indies (UWI), Research Days 2019, held on the Mona campus, Ms. Ghartey, pointed out that such research is important in formulating effective programmes and policies to reach vulnerable youth and enhance crime-fighting.

“Research is critical because at the Ministry, we ensure that our strategic planning is based on an evidence-based approach and this is utilised to develop initiatives such as We Transform and the Five-pillar Crime Reduction Strategy,” she noted.

Ms Ghartey told JIS News that We Transform’s participation in UWI Research Days presented an opportunity for the programme to partner with researchers.

“All our plans are informed by statistics from research, so events like UWI Research Days are very important in forming these kinds of collaboration and relationships that we can leverage to provide us with the requisite data to make good decisions as it relates to fighting crime,” she added.

Research Fellow at UWI, Mona, Dr. Dacia Leslie, who has conducted research in offender management, noted that “youth-centred research that actively engages young people in decisions about their effective reintegration can help to identify ‘what works’ to sustainably prevent recidivism.”

“There is also a need for greater focus to be placed on evaluating the impact of youth interventions,” she added.