David Carter
Professor of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University
Key Findings
- The primary concern with citizen security in the Caribbean is public confidence in the state’s capacity to protect citizens and ensure justice.
- Despite advances in healthcare, education, political developments and democratic governance, several countries in the Caribbean suffer from high rates of violent crime and high levels of social violence.
- Caribbean countries need to shift from an approach to security that is primarily focused on regime protection to one that is pursued in the context of human development.
- The report makes six recommendations to improve citizen security in the Caribbean.
- Reduce victimization
- Reduce risk and build youth resilience
- Transform the police
- Reform the justice system
- Develop a capacity for evidence-based policy
Description
The Caribbean Human Development Report 2012, “Human Development and the Shift to Better Citizen Security,” Carter and his co-authors examine two paradoxes. First, despite advances in democratization in the Caribbean, citizen security levels and justice and security institutions in the region remain in crisis. Second, despite reforms to improve governance in the region, justice and security institutions are overwhelmed and public confidence in them is “shattered.” The report seeks to explain the history and complexity of the paradoxes and offers recommendations to improve citizen security in the region.