SANTO DOMINIGO, Dominican Republic (CMC) — The Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBSI) Technical Working Group on Crime Prevention has ended a meeting here committing to specific actions to advance its priorities related to juvenile justice reform, strengthening evidence for crime prevention, and community level youth violence prevention and reduction.

The CBSI is a cooperation/collaboration initiative between Caricom and the United States, which is being implemented by the Caribbean Community (Caricom) Implementing Agency for Crime and Security (Caricom -IMPACS).

The initiative brought together Caricom member states and the Dominican Republic to reduce illicit trafficking through programmes which range from counter-narcotics to combating the flow of illegal small arms and light weapons; increasing public safety and security through programmes aimed at reducing crime and violence to improving border security; and promoting social justice through programmes designed to improve the justice sector, combat government corruption, and assist vulnerable populations at risk of recruitment into criminal organisations.

The meeting was held under the theme ‘Youth, Women and Vulnerable Populations Driving Peace and Justice’, and, according to a statement issued following the talks, a commitment was given to support criminal justice systems to use more restorative and rehabilitative approaches to juvenile justice.

“To this end, further refining justice country strategic plans; mobilising resources and implementing monitoring and evaluations mechanisms were identified as required actions to, among other outcomes, increase the use of alternative sentencing; rehabilitate and reintegrate programmes for juvenile offenders and improve policy-juvenile interactions.”