Criminologist Renée Cummings: Too much $$ wasted on failed interventions

The murder rate is past 20 within the first two weeks of the year. Criminologist Renée Cummings says this country is paying a high price in terms of lost lives but wasting a lot of money on interventions that are not producing results.

“TT is paying a high price. For too long, we have been losing future generations to homicide; the loss of lives is draining the talent pool, depleting the natural resources of our country. Our citizens are not statistics; they are people who deserve the right to live, in a safe and secure society, with the ability to contribute positively to the development of our nation.”

Cummings, speaking in an interview with Sunday Newsday, said locally, white collar crime, fraud and corruption were having the most economic impact on the country as these result in significantly more death and violence than street crime and are not even counted in the statistics but create such a criminogenic environment. She also pointed out crime has an impact on a country’s development.

CRIME AFFECTS DEVELOPMENT

“There’s a correlation between crime prevention and national development; low levels of crime and violence enhance social stability and economic viability. A high homicide rate which is viewed as a measure of quality of life could destabilise a nation and impact foreign investment, the economy and economic opportunities. The cost of crime, economic and social, could impact the GDP of a nation.”

Cummings said the national policy response to reducing crime and violence has never been research-driven and evidence-based and we have never employed rigorous criteria and scientific methods to determine what works, in crime prevention, and to design effective interventions. “Limited empirical data continues to undermine the quality and quantity of interventions. Internationally, big data is big business because it translates into big ideas.”

Cummings stressed fidelity to scientific methodology offers an opportunity to design crime prevention and violence reduction interventions with the right fit for the presenting problems and in keeping with international good practices.

“An evidence-based approach could cut cost significantly and ensure that only the initiatives that are delivering results receive the required investment and initiatives that are not working are cut. We have been wasting a lot of money on interventions that have not been delivering results.”

LOW RETURNS FOR $$ SPENT

From the 2015/2016 budget onwards the highest allocation has been for national security amounting to more than $23 billion for the past three budgets; for the previous two budgets the highest allocation was for education and training. Cummings said each national security dollar spent must increase public safety and enhance quality of life.

“Crime fighting is a public investment and to date the return on investment has been immeasurably low. Citizens must receive maximum value for each taxpayer dollar. We must apply a business model to crime fighting to measure the social return, the net social benefit, of public investment in national security and ensure that our tax dollars are spent in ways that reflect our safety, security, justice and quality of life priorities.”

Cummings believes there are areas that more money should be spent on to alleviate crime and she has shared many of her ideas with the authorities, the public through many media interviews and she has also met with Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.

“If his Government is serious about reducing crime and violence he will engage the technical assistance to invigorate critical thinking and creative problem solving. The right mix of diverse intelligences is missing from the national security response to crime and violence.”