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Deportees have little impact on crime, study says

Kingston, Jamaica (AP):

MOST JAMAICANS SENT home after committing crimes in the United States are non-violent offenders who likely have little impact on the Caribbean island's crime woes, a study released yesterday said.

The study, sponsored by the U.S. Embassy and prepared by scholars at the University of the West Indies' (UWI) Kingston campus, conflicts with previous assertions by Jamaican officials that most deportees are hardened criminals who are contributing to violent crime on the island.

The study analysed statistics provided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on nearly three-quarters of the 12,036 Jamaicans deported from the United States between 1997 and 2003.

Of that amount, 60 per cent were sent home for criminal offences, about half on drug convictions. By comparison, just two per cent and seven per cent, respectively, were sent home on homicide and assault convictions.

Not violent

"It's not violent prisoners whom the Americans are turning loose on us," said Dr. Bernard Headley, a professor of criminology at the UWI who led the research team.

Regarding how much deportees contribute to crime in Jamaica, Headley offered no definitive conclusion, saying such data is unavailable. But, he said past research by his university colleagues suggests the impact is low, with deportees committing an estimated four per cent of some 1,000 homicides reported in Jamaica each year.

"We're comfortable in making some broad-based conclusions that (deportees) do not contribute greatly to Jamaica's crime rate," Headley said, adding that more research was needed to provide a clearer picture.

U.S. Ambassador Sue Cobb said she hoped the report would spur greater research on the issue of deportees to help foster "mutual understanding between our countries and our citizens."

Worst spate of crime

The study comes as Jamaica struggles with its worst spate of violent crime on record. More than 1,000 people have been slain on the island of 2.6 million since January, putting it on pace to surpass its record of 1,138 killings in 2001.

In a speech in June, Prime Minister P.J. Patterson suggested that criminal deportees were hurting crime-fighting efforts and accused other nations of "trying to get rid of their problem" by returning thousands of them every year.

His comments came after Britain said it would send home hundreds of Jamaicans behind bars there to cut costs and ease overcrowding.

"The cases of some 8,000 criminal deportees were included in the study, while others were excluded because their records were incomplete. Of the deportees whose cases were considered, 614 were minors," Headley said.

The number of Jamaican criminals sent home from the United States has risen sharply since a 1996 U.S. law mandating that every non-citizen sentenced to a year or more in prison be subject to deportation. Deportable crimes range from murder to petty theft.

An Associated Press investigation conducted last year found that one out of every 106 males over the age of 15 in Jamaica is a criminal deportee from the United States.