Recidivism in the Caribbean

This book provides a detailed and practical exploration of criminal recidivism and social reintegration in Jamaica. It uses various methods to seek the authentic voices of inmates, ex-prisoners, deported migrants and practitioners, drawing on an original study to examine factors that might help ex-prisoners more successfully transition from a prison environment to life within the community. Leslie also raises important questions about the Jamaican state’s capacity to meet the needs of inmates, particularly as a large number of its citizens are subject to forced repatriation to their homeland by overseas jurisdictions due to their offending. Recidivism in the Caribbean provides a unique insight into institutional and community life in a post-colonial society, whilst linking practices theories of offender management. It will particularly appeal to criminologists and sociologists interested in tertiary crime prevention but also those interested in correctional policy and practice, punishment and deviance.

Dacia Leslie is Research Fellow at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES), University of the West Indies, Mona. Her doctoral research explores the micro and macro-level social factors that bear upon the effective reintegration of Jamaican ex-prisoners returning to Jamaican society. Within the last decade Leslie has worked on several developmental projects including the most recent Caribbean Human Development Report 2016 where she served as a Research Contributor. Dacia Leslie is the Chair of the Crime Prevention and Offender Management (CPOM) research cluster at the University of the West Indies, Mona and member of the British Society of Criminology and the Howard League for Penal Reform.