PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — The findings of a United States-funded study on the Prevalence and Patterns of Troublesome Youth Groups in the Caribbean will be among matters discussed during the three-day seventh meeting of the Technical Working Group on Preventing Crime, by focusing on at-risk youth and vulnerable populations here this week.

The April 4-6 conference is held in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Eastern and Southern Caribbean office, the Trinidad and Tobago government and the Guyana-based Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat.

It will be held under the theme Evidence-based Decision -Making and will focus on the dissemination of new and emerging research on crime prevention tools, programmes and policies.

The organisers said that among the highlights of the meeting will be the presentation of the findings of the USAID-funded study on the Prevalence and Patterns of Troublesome Youth Groups in the Caribbean as well as a one-day workshop on monitoring and evaluation. They said the meeting brings together international and regional experts on youth and citizen security to discuss cross cutting and innovative approaches to crime and violence prevention.

Approximately 70 delegates from Caricom member states, the United States and the Dominican Republic are expected to attend the conference.

Among the speakers will be Roberto Obando, director of citizen and justice at the Pan American Development Foundation in the United States; Michael Marshall of the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies; Elizabeth Zeichmeister, the director of the Latin American Public Opinion Project survey research institute, and Cornelius Vanderbilt professor of political science at the Vanderbilt University.