Sentencing reform debate highlights shift to public health approach to crime

Crime and violence must be tackled as public health issues, not just matters for policing, Minister of Home Affairs Gregory Nicholls said Monday, as regional experts and justice officials pressed for sentencing reform, early intervention and better resourcing to reduce reoffending in Barbados.

The issue was among those discussed at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, where the Barbados Probation Service began a two-day symposium on ‘Modern Perspectives on Sentencing and Penal Reform’.

Nicholls declared the government was prepared to be held accountable, as it plays a critical role in shaping Barbados’ actions to reform its criminal justice system.

“What we invest in to ensure fewer people enter it in the first place, that is this ministry’s ground, and that is what these two days are about…We have watched crime and violence change in character and in reach. We have watched communities carry burdens that our institutions have not always been willing to name. We watch a regional conversation shift from treating these challenges purely as law enforcement problems to understanding them as public health challenges requiring early intervention, coordinated responses, and sustained investment.”

He recalled CARICOM’s commitment, as set out in the Georgetown Declaration adopted in November 2024:

“Barbados was at the table. This symposium is how we come home and do the work. Frameworks, however well-intentioned, do not implement themselves. They require political decisions about legislation, about resourcing, about diversion programmes that offer credible alternative paths before the system takes full hold of someone.”

The minister stressed that diversion was not a soft option but one of the most effective tools available to Barbados.

“Getting it right requires exactly the kind of focus, cross-sectoral conversation this room is designed to produce.”

Chief Probation Officer Dr Angela Dixon, who was among the panellists, echoed the need for a new approach, pointing to early intervention, evidence-based treatment and coordinated multi-sectoral responses as critical components of reform.

She noted that significant challenges remained throughout the region:

“Recidivism data is collected inconsistently, and connections between community supervision and the wider services people need, like housing, employment, and mental health support, remain fragile in many places.”

She pointed to community supervision as a public safety strategy that requires proper investment and resources.

Based on the CARICOM and United Nations Development Programme model, the discussion must shift from “punishment to prevention, from incarceration to intervention, and from recidivism to rehabilitation”, Dr Dixon said, noting that the approach aligns with the Georgetown Declaration’s call for comprehensive multi-sectoral responses to crime and violence.

The chief probation officer identified trauma, substance dependence and mental illness as factors disproportionately affecting those who come into contact with the justice system.

Dr Dixon stressed that evidence consistently shows custody alone does not reduce offending.

“What the evidence does show is that probation’s role at every stage, diversion before custody, alternatives to custody and quality supervision after custody are among the most significant factors, whether someone goes on to reoffend and whether the communities are safer. 

“We have made real progress, and we still have work ahead of us. Barbados is replacing this legislation that has governed our probation service since 1946 with a modern bill that will, for the first time, introduce parole as a formal mechanism within the criminal justice system,” she said.

The chief probation officer said the legislation would modernise a framework that has been in place for nearly eight decades and form part of broader efforts to strengthen community supervision and offender rehabilitation in Barbados.

But she acknowledged that gaps remain within the probation system:

“The referral pathway between probation and mental health and substance abuse services exists, but the mental health resources it depends on are stretched, which limits what our officers can do, even when they are able to identify their needs earlier. Early, our officers are also identifying needs around housing and employment, but the pathways to those services are limited and are not always available when the need arises.”

The region also needs a more modern and consistent approach to data collection, said Dr Dixon, who is also president of the Caribbean Association of Probation and Parole (CAPP).

“Data on probation and parole outcomes is being collected across the region, but it’s not being done uniformly, and there’s no shared platform for identifying the trends and learning from what works.”

CAPP is working towards establishing a regional data observatory, a platform where countries would contribute anonymised aggregated data, she revealed.

“A platform where countries contribute anonymised aggregated data on caseloads, outcomes and programme completion that changes every conversation that we will have with ministers, with courts, and with the public. It moves from conviction to proof.”

(LG)