The reaction by Barbadians to two more murders on the weekend evoked a predictable response – the AG should resign, what has gone wrong with our young people blah blah blah. The confirmation from the Barbados Police Service one of the men murdered was out on bail for 3 separate murders and the other well known to the ‘system’ added to the tongue wagging. The defense lawyers will argue a key tenet of jurisprudence is the presumption of innocence.
Two important considerations that are always consumed by predictable narratives at this time are parental delinquency and rehabilitation of incarcerated citizens . From where the blogmaster is perched there are no adequate mechanisms to support the two concerns which are at the root of what is causing young men and an increasing number of girls to fall through the cracks. The result is an unacceptable rate of recidivism. If there is a breakdown in the home and family unit, and the problem is made more acute by a system that pays lip service to rehabilitation of victims then society must take blame. A disproportionate focus on enforcement – which is important – will not move the needle to prevent crime in Barbados. A dysfunctional society will always be the root of the problem.
Barbados Murder Statistics 2017 to 2022
The recent surge in gun play in Barbados has been featured prominently in the media over the last few days (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
On July 8, the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, The Honourable Dale Marshall, addressed this, and related matters, during a press conference (see here). During the presser, the AG also shared some statistics relating to murders and firearms between 2017 and present day:
“In 2017, of those 30 murders, 16 have been solved so far. In 2018, of the 28 murders, 19 have been solved, that 19 amounts to 68 per cent. In 2019, 27 of the 48 murders reported were solved; that’s 56 per cent. Of the 41 murders committed in 2020, 26 or 63 per cent have been solved [and] in 2021, 23 or 72 per cent of the 32 murders were solved. And for this year, of the 17 murders thus far, 10 have been cleared up and some of those have only happened in the last few weeks,” the Attorney General disclosed.
Source: Barbados Government Information Service
As a Barbadian citizen and resident, the topic of crime and violence (especially gun related) is of great importance and a worry to me. However, the majority – if not all of my posts – rarely deal with my personal views and opinions. As a data analyst on the other hand, I try to focus on what is being reported (in terms of facts, figures, et cetera), and collecting, compiling and analyzing said data and information. I was therefore excited when the AG shared some statistics which I will now look at below.
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