St Kitts and Nevis: How will Community Conversations counter crime and violence

St Kitts and Nevis: The Community Conversations on citizen security has been kickstarted in St Kitts and Nevis on Monday with the senior citizens of St Peters. As part of the 90-day campaign against violence and crime, the conversations are expected to showcase the benefits of the productive lifestyle and positive upbringing of children. 

The Citizen Security Secretariat of St Kitts and Nevis also announced the full schedule for the conversations that will be held in every community for October 2024. However, the question has been raised whether the campaign is benefiting society or not. 

The 90-day campaign was launched just over a month ago by the government of St Kitts and Nevis to discuss the root cause of the crime and violence and outline the strategic solutions to combat the situation. 

In the past month, several consultations have been hosted across St Kitts and Nevis due to which the young generation gathered and participated. They actively shared their ideas and ways to combat gang prevalence and other violent incidents. 

During these consultations, the Eastern and Southern Caribbean (ESC) Criminal Dynamics Study Presentation on St Kitts and Nevis has been showcased. According to the data, there was a fluctuating trend in homicide from 2000 to 2022 in the country and it outlined that the proposition which is committed with firearms is quite close. 

Even the patterns also resemble the number of common sites, indicating that a large proportion of murders are committed with the use of firearms. The entire data also showcased that there is a need to investigate the accessibility of firearms in St Kitts and Nevis. If the government is able to remove firearms, then they have the potential to change the nature of homicide or reduce the number of homicides. 

Due to this, community conversations are organized by the government to make people aware of the consequences of possessing firearms. The consultations also looked into the ways of making the firearms non-accessible in St Kitts and Nevis. 

On the prevalence and characteristics of gangs and gang members, the data showcased that there are 15 gangs and 323 gang members including which 6.52% were from the self-report gang member, 6.37% were from Meets Euro-gang definition and 6.45% were from former gang member in St Kitts and Nevis. 

Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Gang Members

According to the statistics, all the gang members are of African descent, and 20% of gangs are all male, while 6% of gangs have foreign-born members. 93% of gang members are 19 years old and over and the mean age was 15 years old. 

With these data, the authorities specifically hosted the conversations with the youth in St Kitts and Nevis and the conversations are aimed to further interact every section of the society. On Wednesday, the citizens of Bronte Welsh are invited to participate in the conversations at the primary school. 

On October 15, 2024: Challengers and Half Way Tree

On October 16, 2024: St Paul’s Community Centre 

On October 17, 2024: Ottley’s Community Centre

On October 22, 2024: Old Road Community Centre 

On October 23, 2024: Saddlers Primary School and Parsons Community Centre

On October 24, 2204: Estridge Primary School and Tabernacle Community Centre 

On October 29, 2024: Pavilion, Newtown and Cayon Community Centre

On October 30, 2024: Fig Tree and Sandy Point Community Centre

On October 31, 2024: Molineux/Phillips

The conversations will be begun at 6 pm under the theme- “Citizen Security: Partnership for Safer Communities.”